Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/497

1922 As some of these appear also in the herald's notes of 1580 the accuracy of his work can be proved in several cases.

5. Lastly, and perhaps the most interesting, we have two fragments of parchment now in the Record Office, listed as Chester 38/47 (2) and (1), both of which we have good reason to think once formed part of the 'Domesday' Roll, of which, in that case, they are the only extant surviving portions.

We were led to them by a reference, made by Mr. Black in his Report of 1840 on the palatine records, to two bundles of fines, one containing a small membrane of enrolments of charters, &c., 28 Henry III, recorded in the county court. He thought that this was probably a fragment of a Plea Roll, and it was more ancient than any record he had seen in Chester or Wales. At first nothing seemed to be known of this membrane at the Record Office, and it was not to be found among the list of Plea Rolls. But the Addenda to the 'List' (no. 40) of the Cheshire records, p. xiv, led to the discovery, among 'Various' documents, of a box (no. 47) containing two fragments, one of them (no. 2), though dated temp. Edward II in the 'List', evidently the membrane of 28 Henry III referred to by Mr. Black, and the other (no. 1) a somewhat similar one also listed as temp. Edward II but actually dated 1280. Both documents came to the Record Office with the other Chester records in 1854.

No. 2 is, as Mr. Black said, the earliest extant official record of the county palatine. It is a membrane 13⅞ inches by 8½ inches, written on both sides, and may perhaps at one time have been used as a cover. There is a jagged hole at the top extending through most of the first entry on it and two smaller holes in the middle. At the foot are some sets of punctures, probably indicating that it had at some time been sewn on to another membrane. The document has been repaired, and most of it is illegible. But we found that the collector of the Shakerley MS., no. 4, mentioned above, had evidently seen this document in January 1631/2 among the bundles of fines at Chester, and he copied most of it. For the rest he referred to 'Liber D', one of Vernon's Collections (Harl. MS. 1967, fo. 1067), where Mr. Brownbill found the full text of the other entries. Thus it has been possible to recover all the enrolments in full and to study this document.

On the front of the membrane are entered several charters for Combermere Abbey read at the county court on 26 April 1244. These are prefaced by the following heading: Carte abbatis et domus de Cumbermare lecte in pleno comitatu Cestrie