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Detail from manorial survey

Document 7: Part of the manorial survey for Manor of Beere and Penally in Pembrokeshire, dated August 1618.

(Catalogue reference: LR 2/206 folio 75 and folio 101)

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About this document

This document, dated August 1618, forms part of the manorial survey for Manor of Beere and Penally in Pembrokeshire.

This document comes from the records of the Office of the Auditors of Land Revenue. It consists of two pages from the 1618 survey of the manor of Manorbier and Penally in Pembrokeshire. Folio 75 is the first page of the survey and gives a list of the jurors and the boundaries of the manor. Folio 101 is an extract from the rental.

Manorial surveys were drawn up for the landowner and provided a description of all aspects of the manor. Surveys varied in length and detail but could include information on the boundaries of the manor, details of the extent of each property, the customs of the manor and the rental. Rentals are often the longest part of the survey. They may include a list of the tenants' names, details of land they hold, the form of tenure by which it was held, the use to which it was put, the amounts of rent due each year and the services the tenants owed the lord of the manor.

Surveys were often made upon change of ownership of the manor, or in order to try to discover ways in which the yield of the manor could be increased. They provided for the lord of manor a written record of the obligations owed to him by tenants but also recorded the rights of the tenants themselves.

The manor of Manorbier and Penally consisted of two parishes of the same names. It contained four villages: Manorbier, Jameston, Manorbier Newton and Penally. The manor came into Crown possession in 1461. In 1618 it was amongst the possessions of Charles Prince of Wales, the future Charles I. The survey into the possessions and revenues of the Prince of Wales was commissioned by the prince's council, who appointed John Stepneth and Thomas Canon as commissioners.

The document is predominantly in secretary hand but titles, place names and proper names are generally in a different script, such as italic, to make them stand out.