The Churchwardens' Book of Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, 1496-c.1540

Churchwardens’ accounts have proved invaluable sources for historians, even if the ways in which they should be used and interpreted remain a matter of some debate. What any particular set contains, and what can be made of it, varies considerably. David Dymond provides an edition of the two surviving volumes of Bassingbourn records (Cambridgeshire Record Office, P 11/5/1–2) in a transcription which, while not an exact reproduction of the original (a few modifications being adopted to make it easier to use), nevertheless offers a valuable version of material which seems characteristic of the genre in its rewards and frustrations. The first of the manuscript volumes (here pp. 2–26) contains a detailed inventory from 1498 (with some later modifications), and a series of lists of debtors to the church, with a few other documents. The second manuscript volume (pp. 28–155) contains the accounts, with notes of some of the annual balances

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