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HISTORY & HERITAGE • 39
Unlocking the Chest
17th Century financial record-keeping at Canterbury Cathedral and the “ Armada Chest ” by Dr . David Shaw , Canterbury Cathedral Archives & Library volunteer …
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HERE , DR . DAVID SHAW summarises the findings of some research into 17th-century accounts at Canterbury Cathedral , which shed light on the management of finances and also on the history of an object in the Cathedral ’ s collections .
At the St Catherine ’ s Audit each November , the Dean and Chapter drew up an account of its wealth in a single sheet document headed ‘ The State of the Church ’. The Cathedral Archives has a continuous series of these from 1679 to 1712 ( DCc / SC1 -32; 1680 is missing ). Each of the annual statements has a similar structure . First of all , the amounts available from the year ’ s income are listed ; the account for 1679 starts ( see table below ).
The figure of £ 200 for the Church Stock occurs every year ; it appears to be a fixed sum designated to be put into the reserves . The bequest of £ 100 from Archbishop Gilbert Sheldon , who died in 1677 , is a one off entry for this year ; there are occasional similar one-off sums for gifts in some of the later years . The highway money is also recorded every year and presumably represents revenue from tolls owned by the Dean and Chapter .
Expenditure on road repairs at Harbledown is also recorded , for example on 19th April 1687 : ‘ Taken out of ye Chest a bagg of Seuenty Seuen pounds eight shillings towards ye repair of Harbledowne
Canterbury Cathedral ’ s ‘ Armada Chest ’. © Canterbury Cathedral .
highway according to order by me ’, signed by the Treasurer , Jean Maximilien de L : Angle ( DCc / SC6 ). Other transactions regularly recorded are for the stipends of the prebendaries and for the salaries of the ‘ Quire ’.
The Treasurer was then responsible for making the individual payments , which would be recorded in the Treasurers ’ Books and signed for by each of the canons ( DCc / TB series ). All of these transactions were for large or relatively large amounts of money for payments which could not be made out of current cash-in-hand , or for surplus amounts of cash-inhand , which needed to be put into the reserves .
It is clear from the many references in these documents to ‘ the Chest ’ that there was a central secure repository for the Dean and Chapter ’ s reserve funds . Many of the transactions are backed up by three signatures , usually of the Dean , the Vice-Dean and the Treasurer , sometimes mentioning
The Church Stock in 2 Baggs 200 - 00 - 0 Item the late Ld of Canterb . Legacy in one Baggs 100 - 00 - 0
High-way money in 3 Baggs 300 - 00 - 0 More in another Bagg 018 - 12 - 0
More , the high-way money of this is year 040 - 00 - 0 Sum 658 - 12 - 0
‘ Aug . 25 : layd more into ye chest in ye treasury of my money 180 £ viz . one bag 100 £ and another 80 £ in all 480 £’
that one of the signatories was representing an absent key holder and was armed with his key ; for example , in 1688 , we find the signature of ‘ Geo Thorp cum clave vicede [ cani ]’ ( George Thorpe with the Vice-Dean ’ s key ); Dr . Thorpe is signing on behalf of that year ’ s Vice-Dean whose key he has been given .
This suggests that there must have been a security system involving a chest with three locks , which required all three key holders to be present to pay money in or take money out of the reserves . All three then signed a record on the sheet for that year ’ s ‘ State of the Church ’ reconciliation for the St Catherine ’ s Audit . The Chest was already in use in 1662 . Dr , William Belke , the Treasurer for 1662 / 1663 , records in rough notes at the front of that year ’ s Treasurer ’ s Book ( DCc / TB 3 ):
Aug . 25 : layd more into ye chest in ye treasury of my money 180 £ viz . one bag 100 £ and another 80 £ in all 480 £
Chests of this is sort with multiple locks had been a common system for securing institutional valuables since the Middle Ages . An enquiry to the Cathedral ’ s Vesturer ( head virger ) Christopher Crooks quickly established that the Cathedral does have such a chest and that it is to be found in the virgers ’ office in the Wax Chamber . Mr . Crooks informs me that it is thought to be an iron chest of 17th · century German manufacture of a sort ( erroneously ) known as an ‘ Armada ’ chest . It seems highly probably that this is the chest referred to in these ‘ State of the Church ’ documents .
With acknowledgement to : Cathedral Libraries and Archives Association .
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