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The Bridgnorth Suit Rolls

A Suit Roll is a list of inhabitants who "owe suit" to a court (in this case, the local Court Leet), and who are expected to attend it to "perform their suit and service". In effect, it is a list of all male residents of a place who are "of age", although there appear to be some exceptions - for example, the Bridgnorth Suit Rolls contain occasional references to people being excused on account of being over 60, or being sick.

The Court Leet itself dealt with minor breaches of the peace and petty offences such as "breaking the assizes of ale and beer". It was held twice a year, usually near Easter time and again in October. Fines could be levied on those who failed to attend. Leets had been around since mediaeval times, but declined in importance from the seventeenth century onwards - although there are some still in existence today.

What information is contained in the entries?

The Bridgnorth Suit Rolls, for the most part, are simply lists of names, and do not contain as much personal information as entries in the Burgess Book. Although a person may have an additional descriptive term, such as "senior" or "clerk", this is the exception rather than the rule.

Over half of the lists are explicitly ordered by street, allowing an approximate address to be included in the record. The other lists may also be ordered by street, but as none are mentioned it is impossible to say for certain. Also, the earlier lists traditionally list the 24 Aldermen first, independently of their address, so their street names may not be included.

Each suit roll usually covers a range of dates, as there were a lot of people in Bridgnorth and writing out a new list was quite a laborious task. This means that they are full of crossings-out and insertions and so on, acquired as the list was re-used, which can make them very difficult to decipher in places. It also means that a single person can appear on the same list more than once, so just because the name "Fred Bloggs" appears five times does not mean that there are five people with that name - there may be only one!

The suit rolls are also "marked", a little like a school register, to say whether the person attended or not, or was sick, excused or had died etcetera. Unfortunately these marks are not very decipherable or consistent, but where there is an obvious comment like "died", it has been noted in the record.

Which Suit Rolls have been transcribed?

Suit Rolls for the following dates can be found at Shropshire Archives, and are in the process of being transcribed by this website:

They are listed individually below to give a better idea of what information is available in each one. In order to see which of these have actually been transcribed, visit the Lists page.

Suit Roll: 1641-1643

This is the earliest of the Bridgnorth suit rolls, and the only one from before fire destroyed the High Town in 1646. Combined with the 1650 suit roll, it gives a before-and-after look at the town's population. It begins with the Court Leet on 18th May 1641 and covers six Leets, taking the list up to 12th October 1643.

This suit roll does not appear to be ordered by street. The Aldermen are listed at the beginning, as was quite common on the earlier lists. For the most part, the list is very carefully kept, with a mark next to each name for each Leet, except where names have been struck through. However, there are the usual crossings-out and insertions, and where names have been written in to one side it becomes harder to work out which Leets are being referred to.

The pages of this list are tied together at the top, obscuring one or two names at the top of some pages. Alas, there is no way to read these names without incurring the wrath of the archivists!

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Suit Roll: 1650-1655

This is the first Bridgnorth suit roll from after the fire in 1646, and covers six years of the interregnum known as the Commonwealth. It begins with the Court Leet on 23rd April 1650 and, despite only being marked out for eight Leets, has been made to cover twelve, taking the list up to 23rd October 1655. The extra Leets have been fitted into the margins and other available space, but are relatively clear and there is usually a mark next to each name for each Leet. The dates of the Leets are:

Year	Easter Leet	October Leet
1650	23 Apr 1650	22 Oct 1650
1651	8 Apr 1651	21 Oct 1651
1652	4 May 1652	21 Oct 1652
1653	19 Apr 1653	25 Oct 1653
1654	20 Apr 1654	24 Oct 1654
1655	8 May 1655	23 Oct 1655

This list of 389 names begins with the names of the Aldermen, who are then followed by the rest of the population. Within the Aldermen, it seems that names are being struck through and reinserted - apparently when they are elected bailiffs. Some names are also crossed through from the main list and reinserted under the Aldermen. Again, these crossings-out and insertions do sometimes make it difficult to read.

At first sight, the list does not appear to be arranged by street, but on closer examination, three street names are mentioned: Low Town, Hungary Street and New Town. The Aldermen and the next forty-five names have no street mentioned. Then thirty-two names follow "In Low Town", 269 names follow "Hungary Street", and the last seven are inserted at the end under "New Town".

These are very peculiar statistics - most of the usual streets are not mentioned, and virtually everybody is living in "Hungary Street" (another name for St. Mary Street). One possible reason for this is that the street information is incomplete. In any case, these street names have been included in the records, albeit with a question mark to indicate the uncertainty.

As with the 1641 list, the pages are tied together at the top. However, as each page begins with column headings no names are hidden by this.

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Suit Roll: 1680-1685

This suit roll begins with the Court Leet on 27th October 1680 and covers eleven Leets, taking the list up to the Autumn Leet of 1685.

As is common in the earlier suit rolls, the list begins with the names of the Aldermen. However, the rest of the population is ordered by street, making this the earliest list to give addresses - however vague - for the residents of Bridgnorth. This list is not as well-kept as the 1641 list in that there is not a mark next to every name for every Leet, so when names are struck through or written in, it is not clear when this occurred.

Again, the pages of this suit roll are tied together at the top. This covers no names at the tops of pages as they begin with column headings. However, it does obscure some names at the bottoms of the reverse sides.

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Suit Roll: 1686-1691

This suit roll begins with the Court Leet on 20th April 1686, forming a continuous record with the 1680 suit roll. It is set out with space for eight Leets, but another four have been squashed into the spaces, taking the list up to the Autumn Leet of 1691. These extra Leets are unlabelled, making it unclear which is which.

Like the previous suit roll, the list begins with the names of the Aldermen, and then orders the rest of the population by street. Again, there is not a mark next to every name for every Leet, so when names are struck through or written in, it is not always possible to work out when this occurred.

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Suit Roll: 1694-1695

This suit roll begins with the Autumn Leet of 1694 and has entries for three Leets, taking it up to the Autumn Leet of 1695. However, there is no indication of which set of entries is for which date.

This list begins with the names of the Aldermen, and then the rest of the population. No street names are mentioned, so even if the names are arranged geographically, it is not possible to tell.

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Suit Roll: 1696-1699

This suit roll begins with the Court Leet on 4th May 1696, forming a continuous record with the 1694 and 1700 suit rolls. It has faint columns for eight Leets, with one more squashed into the margin, ending with the Easter Leet of 1700.

As with the previous list, it begins with the names of the Aldermen, and mentions no street names. Unlike the previous list, however, it is clear which set of markings are for which Leet, even though they are not consistently filled in and have blank spaces.

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Suit Roll: 1700-1705

This suit roll begins with the Autumn Leet of 1700 and has columns for ten Leets, taking it up to the Easter Leet of 1705. These columns are not consistently filled in.

This list begins with the names of the Aldermen, and then the rest of the population. No street names are mentioned, and as usual, there are a great many crossings-out and insertions, making it difficult to read in places.

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Suit Roll: 1705-1711

This list of 668 names has columns for eleven Court Leets, starting with the Easter Leet of 1705. It also has entries for three more Leets squashed into the spaces, taking it up to the Autumn Leet of 1711, but it is not clear which is which. This means that any dates mentioned in the 'Comments' field of the database should be taken with a pinch of salt - particularly 1710 or 1711.

The marks next to each man's name are inconsistent and often unclear, and are not mentioned in the database unless there is a very obvious comment like "mort". If a name has clearly been struck through or inserted at a later date this may also be noted, but for the most part, each entry simply consists of a forename and surname. Additional information like "junior", "senior", occupation or nickname crops up every now and then.

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Suit Roll: 1712-1713

This list is unusual in that it includes the names of women - although frequently only their surnames and marital status, e.g. "Widow Bloggs". It begins on 23rd October 1712 and has columns for three Leets, up to 27th October 1713. Unfortunately, some of the names are very close to the edge, which is crumbling, and the first few letters of the name may not be visible. It is not ordered by street.

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Suit Roll: 1751-1754

This suit roll begins with the Easter Leet on 30th April 1751 and has columns for eight Court Leets, finishing on 22nd October 1754. Unlike the earlier suit rolls, it has not tried to cram extra Leets into the margins and spaces, and is a proper book with a proper cover.

This is the first suit roll which does not begin with the names of the Aldermen. Instead, all the names of the inhabitants are ordered by street. There are still the usual crossings-out and insertions, but for the most part it is well laid-out and legible.

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Suit Roll: 1755-1759

This suit roll begins with the Court Leet on the 22nd April 1755 and has columns for nine Leets, ending on 8th May 1759. It therefore forms a continuous record with the 1751 suit roll. As with that earlier document, it is properly bound in book form and completely organised by street.

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Suit Roll: 1779-1782

This list of 851 names is ordered by street and covers seven Court Leets, from Easter 1779 to Easter 1782. It is unusual in two ways: firstly, because there is an earlier "draft copy" which allows names to be checked, and secondly because there are quite a number of women on the list. They are usually widows or spinsters, and in many cases the compiler of the list appeared not to know their forenames, leaving a blank space instead. Their names appear on both copies of the list, but on the main list their names are without exception struck through.

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Suit Roll: 1782-1789

This book has columns for 27 leets in a double-page spread, but only uses 15 of them. This takes it from 22nd October 1782 up to 22nd October 1789, and therefore forms a continuous record with the 1779 suit roll. It is ordered by street, but is only patchily filled in.

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Notes

The following table shows the reference numbers of these Burgess Records 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
Suit Roll: 1641	BB/F/1/3/1	SR1641	---
Suit Roll: 1650	BB/F/1/3/2/1/1	SR1650	---
Suit Roll: 1680	BB/F/1/3/2/1/2	SR1680	---
Suit Roll: 1686	BB/F/1/3/2/1/3	SR1686	---
Suit Roll: 1694	BB/F/1/3/2/1/4	SR1694	---
Suit Roll: 1696	BB/F/1/3/2/1/5	SR1696	---
Suit Roll: 1700	BB/F/1/3/2/1/6	SR1700	---
Suit Roll: 1705	BB/F/1/2/1	SR1705	---
Suit Roll: 1712	BB/F/1/3/4/1/1	SR1712	---
Suit Roll: 1751	BB/F/1/3/2/1/7	SR1751	---
Suit Roll: 1755	BB/F/1/3/2/1/8	SR1755	---
Suit Roll: 1779	BB/F/1/2/2	SR1779	---
Suit Roll: 1782	BB/F/1/2/3	SR1782	---

To see which Suit Rolls have been transcribed, look at the Lists page .

To search those Suit Rolls which have already been transcribed, click .

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