Research Guides

 Introduction - Cathedrals and churches - Clergy residences - Secular properties - Back to research guides
 

1). INTRODUCTION

This page is intended as a brief guide to the archive and manuscript holdings of Lambeth Palace Library which are of architectural interest. It is not intended to be exhaustive. Any researcher interested in a particular topic, whether or not it is included here, is warmly encouraged to write to the Library (Lambeth Palace Library, London, SE1 7JU, UK) for further information.

In addition to the primary sources described below, the Library has an extensive collection of secondary sources including standard reference works, parish histories and guides, and contemporary prints. For further information, please consult the online catalogue. Reference sources include standard printed works on individual architects, including: 

• Dictionary of National Biography (original edition and new edition published in 2004) 
• Who's Who and Who Was Who
• Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840
• Royal Institute of British Architects, Directory of British Architects, 1834-1914 

The records held at Lambeth Palace Library are described in this guide purely in terms of their architectural significance. For further information, including details of finding aids, please click on the links below to our detailed holdings.  Use your browser's "back" button to return to this guide.
 

2). CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES

Parish churches in England and Wales

The main source of information about parish churches held at Lambeth Palace Library is the archive of the Incorporated Church Building Society. Over 12000 plans from this archive have been digitised and are available online. The finding aid also includes references to grants awarded by the Church Building Commission, whose records are held at the Church of England Record Centre (15 Galleywall Road, South Bermondsey, London, SE16 3PB, UK).

Archbishops’ registers may include information on churches within both the diocese and province of Canterbury, covering the clergy, patronage and benefice. There is also some information on visitations and faculties.

The archive of the vicar general includes some records of the grant of faculties for the alteration or destruction of church buildings within the diocese of Canterbury and the archbishop’s peculiars. The correspondence contained in the archbishop’s papers and the Fulham papers includes some information on architectural topics, especially during the ritualist controversies of the nineteenth century.

Visitation returns comprise answers by the beneficed clergy to questions circulated in advance of the visitation. These may include information on church buildings and fittings. Lambeth Palace Library holds a small collection of visitation act books and other records for the period 1540-1640 in the archive of the vicar general, as well as visitation returns for the diocese of Canterbury (1717-1935), the exempt parishes, the archbishops’ peculiars and Canterbury cathedral. The Fulham papers series contains some visitation records of the diocese of London (1763-1900). Diocesan surveys and specula, of which several are held at Lambeth, were compiled largely from the information gathered at visitation. Other visitation material for the diocese of Canterbury is held at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives and for the diocese of London at the Guildhall Library.

Court records include those of the archbishop’s peculiar jurisdiction, in the vicar general archive, and of the Court of Arches, the court of appeal for the province of Canterbury. These archives include records of a variety of types of case of architectural interest, such as disputes over dilapidations of church property, faculties and pews.

It is also worth checking the indexes to the later manuscripts series, as there are a variety of records of individual churches, in particular the reports by members of the Cambridge Camden Society (MSS 1977-93, 2677). Individual church buildings are also discussed in evidence submitted to the Archbishops’ Committee on Ancient Monuments (MSS 2786-90), a body appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to consider the measures taken on the issue of faculties for the protection of church fabrics, 1913-15. The archive includes evidence submitted by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and others.

The printed books collection contains a very large number of works on church buildings, furniture and art: church histories, parish guides, specialist studies, and periodicals, including a full run of The Ecclesiologist.
 

Parish churches by location

The sources quoted above may all include information on churches in any particular area.

Specific to London include the records of the Commission for the Building of Fifty New Churches (MSS 2690-2750). The churches which were built (or rebuilt) are Christ Church, Spitalfields; St. Alphege, Greenwich; St. Anne, Limehouse; St. George, Bloomsbury; St.George-in-the-East; St. George, Hanover Square; St. John, Horsleydown; St. John, Smith Square; St. Luke, Old Street; St. Mary-le-Strand; St. Mary, Woolnoth and St. Paul, Deptford. Other churches were subsidised or purchased by the Commission: St. George, Gravesend; St. George the Martyr, Southwark; St. Giles in the Fields; St. John, Clerkenwell; St. Mary Magdalen, Woolwich; St. Michael, Cornhill and St. George the Martyr, Queen Square. The archive, however, also contains much information relating to schemes which were not completed.  Records of later Commissions for Church Building are held at the Church of England Record Centre (15 Galleywall Road, South Bermondsey, London, SE16 3PB, UK).

Also the Fulham papers include records of two bodies appointed by Bishop of London to deal with practical and policy matters regarding churches in the City of London during and immediately after the Second World War, the Committee for the City Churches and the Commission on the City Churches (FP Fisher 8-9).

The early manuscripts series includes a variety of material on London churches, for example papers on St. Gregory’s, including plans of the church in 1636, as rebuilt in 1647 and plans of its vaults (MS 941/137).  Other material is to be found in the later manuscripts series, including monumental inscriptions from London churches, 1638 (MS 1485); papers about St. Etheldreda’s chapel, Holborn Place (Ely Chapel), 1813-41 (MS 1562); drawing of St. John’s church, Hoxton, 1825 (MS 1846).

Inventories of church goods in some Norfolk parishes for return to the Privy Council, 1549 (MSS 696, 1924)

The condition of a number of churches in West Surrey is recorded in a survey of 1908-14 (MSS 2023-5)
 

Cathedrals

The Archbishops’ registers and the archives of the vicar general and the Court of Arches include some material on cathedrals.

St. Paul’s cathedral, London, is particularly well represented in the Library’s collections.  Archbishops and Fulham papers include an account book for work on the west end of Old St. Paul’s in 1639-40 (FP 43);  fabric accounts, 1749-56 (Herring 2,  ff.149-255 and Sherlock 1, ff.212-20); financial accounts of ‘old works’ at, 1761-2 (Osbaldeston 1, ff.42-4) and repairs accounts, 1778 (Lowth 1, ff.193-8), as well as much correspondence of a later date.

The early manuscripts series includes letters from Charles I to Laud and from Laud to Lord Mayor on repair of St Paul’s, 1634 (MS 943, pp.351-68); an account of the rebuilding of St Paul’s cathedral, 1666-1700 (MS 670).  The later manuscripts series also includes statutes of St. Paul’s (MS 1515); statutes of Thomas More’s chantry in St. Paul’s, 1424-32 (MS 2018); an estimate for temporary repairs to the roof after it was struck by lightning, 1561 (MS. 3152, f.84); the papers of the Commissioners for Rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1674 (MS 2872, ff.44-8) and the papers of Robert Mylne, architect, 1764-1801 (MSS 1489, 2027, 2552-3) –which comprise accounts and bills of work, 1764-1801; reports on the fabric, 1781 and letters, 1768-98. 
 
The Ecclesiological Society's website is an informative and expanding one.  The Society covers the arts, architecture or liturgy of the Christian Church, from the earliest churches in Britain through to the most recent developments in ecclesiastical architecture, fittings and liturgy across the world. 
 

Parsonages

The Archbishops’ registers,  the Fulham papers and the archives of the vicar general and the Court of Arches  include some material on clergy residences.
 

Episcopal residences (excluding the Archbishop of Canterbury)

The Archbishops’ registers and the archives of the vicar general and the Court of Arches  include some material on episcopal residences.

The Fulham papers contain some records relating to Fulham Palace, in particular dilapidations accounts, 1761-3 (Hayter 2, Osbaldeston 2, Terrick 17); repairs accounts, 1764-6 (Terrick 18) and plans of alterations, 1762-6 (Terrick 19).
 

Residences of the Archbishop of Canterbury

The estate documents include the medieval records of the temporalities of the see of Canterbury. Of particular architectural interest is ED 562, the accounts for the building of the water tower at Lambeth (Lollard’s tower) in 1433-4. The records of the post-medieval temporalities include some material of architectural interest, especially with regard to rebuilding work at the Archbishop’s residences at Lambeth, Bekesbourne, Canterbury, Croydon, Ford Park and Addington Park. Papers relating to the archbishops’ residences may also be found in the later manuscripts series, including domestic accounts at Lambeth and Croydon, 1614-22 (MS 1730); papers on dilapidations at Lambeth and Croydon (MSS 1154, 1719); inventories (MSS 1299, 1468, 1916); papers on the rebuilding of Lambeth Palace by Edward Blore, including building accounts, plans and watercolours (MSS 1561, 1726, 2197, 2949, 3104-5) and papers on the paintings and other heirlooms (MSS 3346-9).

There are prints and drawings of the archbishops’ residences in the later manuscripts series (MSS 1403, 2197, 2872, 4196) and in the Prints collection, indexed in the online catalogue.

Schools, hospitals and colleges

The archbishop’s papers, Fulham papers, (including visitation returns of the diocese of London, 1763-1900) and the archive of the vicar general (including visitation returns for the diocese of Canterbury, 1717-1935) may all contain information on these types of buildings, including records of the bishop of London and the archbishop of Canterbury as visitor (records of the archbishop’s role as visitor are also found in the manuscripts series).

Other records in the early and later manuscripts series on these types of building include the building accounts of Trinity Hospital, Croydon (MS 275); statutes for Guildford Hospital, 1629 (MSS 727, 1354) and antiquarian collections on Guildford Hospital (MSS 1410-14); documents relating to hospitals in Canterbury (MSS 1250, 1355); a plan of Greenwich Hospital by Nicholas Hawkesmoor, 1698 (MS 933/99); papers on repairs to the charity school at Croydon, including a plan and drawing, 18th century (MS 954/57); notes on the history of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, including plan of disposition of rooms (MS 939/13). The papers of the Clergy Orphan Corporation (MSS 3018-59) contain information on education by that body, including volumes of plans and drawings of the Clergy Orphan School at Canterbury by Philip Hardwick, 1852-7 (MSS 3057-9).

More general works include accounts of hospitals etc. by diocese (MS 639); surveys of schools in the dioceses of Oxford and Salisbury, 1808 (MSS 1731-2); a report on schools in Derbyshire, 1841 (MS 1799) and a collection of views of medieval hospitals and almshouses, c.1910 (MS 1971).
 
 

Domestic and Other Architecture

Sixteenth and seventeenth-century domestic architecture is represented in the Talbotand Shrewsbury papers, which contain some material on properties owned by the family and other influential figures of the day, in particular references in letters. The Carew manuscripts contain information, including drawings, of settlements in Ulster. Also of interest are the household books of Lionel Cranfield, first Earl of Middlesex and his wife Anne, Countess of Middlesex, 1622 (MSS 1228, 3361)

References to buildings in London may be found in particular in the Gibson papers including such items as an account of the building of Greenwich Observatory in 1675-6 (MS 929/3).

The temporalities archive contains a wide variety of estate documents, including maps, surveys and leases, which may help trace the occupation of properties belonging to the archbishop’s estates. There is a particularly full series of records relating to Deal, Kent.