Record

Reference Number496.5 BA9360/A14/Box 1/1
Hierarchy Browser Number8001/1/1/1
TitleChamber Order Book
DescriptionCompiled by the Town Clerks Edward Darnell, William Lyttleton, Walter Jones, John Fleet and William Wyatt, and their assistants.

Approximately one-fifth of the book is concerned with the election, replacement and disciplining of officers and listing their names and position. Other matters discussed include selecting Worcester's Parliamentary representatives; resolution of personal disputes; pensions and allowances; surveys, maintenance, leases and encroachments (purprestures) of municipal land, thoroughfares and property; taxes, fines, loans and payments made by and to the city; mustering and civil defence, with names of soldiers mustered; public health and safety (wells, plague, fire risk, human and animal waste etc); freemen admitted and disenfranchised; admission into trades; the prison and prisoners; regulation of trade and markets, including price, quality, 'foreigners' and trading locations; monastic property after the Dissolution; care of orphans and the poor, mostly concerning charities and bequests; preparations for the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Worcester 1575, including a copy of the speeches made, costs and an account of the visit; and schools. Meetings were usually held a few times each month, but the number varied with the amount and urgency of the council's business.

Some pencil annotations from the twentieth century, usually dates or difficult to read words, but also some ticks and cross marks.

Rebound 1969. The pages at the very start and very end of the book have suffered some damage and some of the text has been lost. A few pages are loose but none appear to be missing. An unindexed typescript partial transcription is available.
Date1540-1601
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