This website is undergoing maintenance, and some pages may not be working fully.
Thank you for your patience!

The Oath Rolls

Between the 16th and 19th centuries in Britain, various groups of people were required to take oaths affirming their loyalty to both the Church of England and to the Crown. Records were kept of the names of those who took the oaths, and some of these oath rolls have survived to the present day.

Sometimes, all persons of full age were required to take the oath, and at other times only holders of particular offices. The penalties for refusing to take an oath could range from having to resign their office, right up to death for high treason, depending on the political climate and the monarch concerned. In practice, only a minority of the population are listed, and they are often the more prominent local citizens, whose compliance or refusal was more likely to be noticed.

Which Oath Rolls still exist for Bridgnorth?

In Bridgnorth, Oath Rolls survive from the following dates:

These oath rolls are described in further detail below. In order to see which of these have actually been transcribed, visit the Lists page.

The 1610 Oath Roll

The 1610 Oath Roll is a list of people who took the Oath of Allegiance a few years after James I became King of England. The list is written into the Third Great Leet Book, which is one of the few original records to survive from before the fire during the civil war. The introduction at the top of the page reads as follows:

A note of all those p[er]sons w[i]thin the Towne and lib[er]ties of Bridgnorth as receaved the oathe of Allegeance to his Ma[jes]tie, taken in the tyme of Thomas Horde Esqr. and Richarde Synge gent. Bailliffs of the said Towne.

The exact date of the list is not mentioned, but it can be dated by the Bailiff List to the year 1610/1.

Containing the names of 522 people, it is the longest of the oath rolls I have found so far, but contains no female names, suggesting that perhaps all adult males were expected to take the oath.

Return to Top

The 1660 Oath Roll

The 1660 Oath Roll is a list of 185 people who took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy after the Restoration of the Monarchy. The introduction at the top of the page reads as follows:

Anno 1660 Annoq[ue] Regni Regis Caroli secundi Anglie xij rora. Roberto Richards & Thom. Ffennymore gen. Ba[i]ll[iffs].

The names of these p[er]sons which inhabit within the towne of Bridgnorth who have taken the Oathe of Alegience and supremacy videl[ice]t:

Again, the exact date is not mentioned, but it can be dated by the Bailiff List to the year 1660/1.

The list is very faded in places, and a paper repair covers some of the names.

Return to Top

The 1662 Oath Roll

The 1662 Oath Roll is a list of 226 names which, like the 1610 list, have been written into the Third Great Leet Book. However, unlike that list, it is made up of the actual signatures of those named - or at least their mark.

I thought at first that this might be the original list of signatures from which the 1660 list was copied, but it clearly dates from October/November of 1662 and contains other names. The page begins with the note, "A subscription to be made", and the text of the oath reads as follows:

I doe declare that there lyes noe obligation upon me, or any other person from the Oath comonly called, The solemne League and Covenant, and that the same was in it self an unlawefull Oath and imposed upon the Subiectes of this Realme, against the knowne lawes and liberties of this kingdom.

As this list is made up of signatures, it allows us to discover whether a person was literate or not, but has the unfortunate side effect of making some of the entries illegible. I have included these entries in the database for the sake of completeness, and have had to think about how to deal with them. The most common readability issue is not really a problem - if the database entry reads:

"Fred [ ? ] Bloggs"

... then the question mark in square brackets simply implies that Fred's actual name was written by someone else, and is readable, but that Fred himself made some indecipherable scratch marks which constitute his real signature. Where the mark is clearly a particular letter, or a cross, this will be placed in the square brackets instead of the question mark.

However, if the surname in the search results has a question mark next to it, that surname (and possibly the entire entry) is highly dubious! I do keep revisiting these entries in the hope that the penny will suddenly drop, as it has with many others, but it hasn't happened yet. About seven names on the 1662 oath roll fall into this category. One or two others have a clearly written surname, but an uncertain forename - or one that has been given only as an initial, e.g. "F. Bloggs".

You can look at the "Comments" field to tell you whether the person signed their own name, and there may also be additional information if the signature was in any way unusual or difficult to read.

NOTE: On the previous page, seemingly dating to a few months earlier, is the note, "An oath to be administered". It is accompanied by the text of another oath:

I doe declare and beleeve that it is not lawefull upon any p[re]tence whatsoev[er] to take Armes against the Kinge: and that I doe abhor that trayterous Position of takeinge Armes by his Authoroty against his person or against those that are Comissioned by him. Soe helpe me God.

There are no names listed with this oath, but it is written amongst the pages dealing with a visit from the King's Commissioners, who ordered a mass removal and replacement of one Bailiff, seven Aldermen and ten Burgesses from the Corporation.

Return to Top

The 1723 Oath Roll

The 1723 Oath roll consists of a large sheet of parchment headed with the text of a very long oath, which is followed by the names of those taking the oath and the dates when they did so. The oath is essentially three oaths in one:

The Oath of Allegiance (declaration of fidelity to the Sovereign)
The Oath of Supremacy (repudiation of any foreign spiritual or ecclesiastical authority)
The Oath of Abjuration (repudiation of the Jacobite claim to the throne)

To see the full text of the Oath, please click .

The Papists Act required everyone to take these oaths by 25 December 1723. Those who declined were expected to register their estates. If they failed to do so they risked forfeiting them.

Like the 1662 list, the 1723 Oath Roll is made up of the actual signatures of those professing their loyalty, even though many simply made a cross or a wobbly attempt at an initial. Again, this can make legibility an issue, but any problems or uncertainties have been described in the record. This list also contains the signatures of women as well as men.

In Bridgnorth, 162 people signed the Oath Roll, with the last signature on 23 December 1723, just two days before the deadline.

Return to Top

Notes

The following table shows the reference numbers of the Oath Rolls as used by this site, by Shropshire Archives, and (where known) by the Family History Library:

Record Name	Reference Number
	Shropshire Archives	Bridgnorth Lists	Family History Library
1610 Oath Roll	BB/F/1/1/3	OR1610	---
1660 Oath Roll	BB/F/2/3/4/9	OR1660	---
1662 Oath Roll	BB/F/1/1/3	OR1662	---
1723 Oath Roll	BB/F/2/3/13/43	OR1723	---

To search the Oath Rolls, click .

This page has been accessed times.