| Description | The Treasurer's vouchers are the bills and receipts that are accumulated by the Treasurer during the financial year of the Dean and Chapter. They consist of descriptions of work done in or around the Cathedral or materials supplied to the Dean and Chapter, with an acknowledgement of receipt of the amount owed. The same information is to be found in a more abridged version in the Treasurers' Accounts and Books.
Many of the vouchers contain detailed lists of the work undertaken by the craftsman, although some give only the number of days they worked for the Cathedral and not what they did. Bills for the following workmen may be found; carpenters, smiths, bell and clock repairers, builders, glaziers, tilers, pavers, upholsterers, road repairers, plumbers and general labourers. There are also bills from suppliers such as booksellers, stationers, coalmen, wine merchants, drapers, bakers, brushmakers, ropemakers and chandlers.
Other expenses to be found amongst these vouchers include bills for entertaining bishops and archbishops, for copying music into the church books, carriage of goods by rail, insurance and poor rate costs and also the cost of washing church linen. The fees of the surveyor are also to be found in some of the bundles and from the 1820s gas bills appear.
From January 1862 to 1875 some of the receipts are divided into half-year bundles, running from September and March. These are enclosed by abstracts of wages and bills for the period covered by the vouchers.
The bundles are generally in good condition, although there are several missing years and in some years only a few of the original vouchers remain. The vouchers do, however fill some gaps in the Treasurers' Books series. Vouchers exist for 1664-1667 (TV 13-15), 1693-1694 (TV 32) and 1699-1700 (TV 38), where the books are missing. The vouchers are arranged in year bundles, the years running from St. Katherine's day unless stated otherwise. There are usually 20-30 vouchers to a bundle, although in the mid eighteenth century there may be nearly double that number. |