| Arrangement | Arrangement
However, because the glebe terriers were returned with the transcripts of parish registers (B/V/7), they are sometimes found with them. When so found they are being removed to this series. However sometimes the terrier was written on the same sheet of parchment as the transcript, in which case the sheet has been kept with the transcripts. Glebe terriers are arranged alphabetically by parish. The Oswestry deanery terriers form a separate series.
Originally there were main and additional lists of the main series of terriers, and these have now been merged. The numbering of the items in the main list was determined by their arrangement, which was roughly alphabetical. Numbers of items in the additional list either continue the sequence within each initial letter in the main list (e.g. Penley, which appeared only in the additional list, was numbered P10 because the last 'P' item in the main list was P9) or are determined by where the items fit in the alphabetical sequence, an 'a' or a 'b' being used to distinguish a number from one already used in the main list (e.g. Chesterton, B/V/6/C7a, follows Chebsey, B/V/6/C7). |
| Description | Glebe terriers were returned, together with parish register transcripts, at the bishops' triennial visitations. They form a survey of the sources of the benefice income and give details of landholdings (including glebe houses), tithing rights, customs and modus (compositions for tithe), and surplice fees. They do not, however, give much detail on the parsonage houses. They usually state the number of bays of the building and specify the outhouses, and some 19th-century terriers specify the rooms in the house. Temporary commutations of tithe that did not affect the incumbent's claim to receive the tithes in kind are not usually noted, and there was a tendency to send in identical or almost identical terriers at successive visitations. They may, on occasion, record disputes over claims to tithe or land.
A good series of terriers has been preserved, although the number surviving from any parish varies. The earliest surviving terriers are those of 1612 and 1635 (although there is a terrier of 1600 for Penn), usually small in size and of which by no means all survive. The series begins again in 1682 and continues until the mid-19th century. At triennial intervals, this would mean over 50 terriers for a parish; in fact, 25-40 is the normal survival. Being of lasting importance as a record of benefice income, the Warwickshire and Derbyshire terriers were transferred to their respective new dioceses with the parishes and are not in the Staffordshire Record Office, except for a few strays. However, because the glebe terriers were returned with the transcripts of parish registers (B/V/7), they are sometimes found with them. When so found they are being removed to this series. However sometimes the terrier was written on the same sheet of parchment as the transcript, in which case the sheet has been kept with the transcripts. Glebe terriers are arranged alphabetically by parish. The Oswestry deanery terriers form a separate series.
Terriers returned in 1884 were bound into three volumes, one for each of the archdeaconries, entitled "Church Property Returns, 1884". These were entered on forms, covering the parsonage and sources of benefice income and schedules of registers, communion plate and benefactions. These terriers cover most of the parishes in the three archdeaconries.
Documents which were separate from the main series were deposited as part of LD412. There are in addition: glebe terriers of Dunchurch (Warks), 1635, 1718 and 1730, and Wroxeter (Salop), 1722 (Ex D and C B/V/6); glebe terriers of parishes within the peculiar jurisdictions of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield, 1612-1832 (LD30/9/3/6/1-32); glebe surveys and terriers for the archdeaconries of Salop, Stafford, Stoke and Lichfield, 1950s-1987 (B/A/26/17 and LD136). There is also one outsize box of additional glebe terriers for the parishes in the Oswestry Deanery which were transferred into the Diocese (no list available to date). All of these appear in the catalogue at the end of the sequence with the code "Z". |