Essex

As with other series shelfmarked MS. Ch. and MS. Rolls, this is an artificial collection created from a range of archival sources, and the provenance of individual items is not always known.

The collection catalogued in 1878 comprised MSS. Ch. Essex 1-257, and MSS. Rolls Essex 1-18. Turner and Coxe identified material from the archives of five religious houses:

• Tiptree Priory (Ch. 1-27, Rolls 18)
• Horkesey Priory (Ch. 29-65, Rolls. 16)
• Stanesgate Priory (Ch. 68-83)
• Blackmore Priory (Ch. 157-163)
• Thoby Priory (Ch. 165-8)

A further group (Chs. 84-157) is from the archives of Colchester Abbey, comprising charters relating to Wickham Skeith in Suffolk; these are probably the charters listed by Thomas Tanner (Notitia Monastica 122) as being in his possession. Further charters relating to Wickham Skeith are MSS. Ch. Suffolk 1392-1432.

The provenance of Ch. 169-257 and Rolls 1-15 was not recorded and remains to be researched. Ch. 210 belonged to Ralph Thoresby (see the collection overview for Yorkshire)

The main later accession is MSS. Ch. Essex 266b-972, New College leases (see the collection overview for Berkshire)

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