Devon Parish Returns towards the Rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral, 1678

Guildhall Library Ms 25565

Transcribed, and made available here, with the permission of the Librarian of St Paul's Cathedral,
obtained via the Keeper of Mansucripts, Guildhall Library

In 1678 many parishes throughout the country held collections to raise funds for the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral - the Guildhall Library in London holds a large collection of documents giving the names of each parish's contributors and the amounts they donated. The Guildhall Library has produced a description of the collection and an index to the 3300 parishes covered.

All of the large number of Devon parishes, mainly from North Devon, whose returns are in this collection have now been transcribed by a number of volunteers, recruited via a message to the DEVON-L mailing list. The listing below of these Devon parishes provides access to the respective transcripts. These transcripts are presented in a standardised tabular format, rather than attempt to mimic the various different formats used in the actual returns.

Note: As yet only about half of the transcripts have undergone an independent check. Many returns are clear and legible, but some are very difficult to read - these are typically of pages which have been encased in a protective transparent wrapper because of their fragility. In some cases the full decipherment, in so far as this is possible, of such pages may have to await the chance to re-examine them at the Library, possibly under ultra-violet light.