2.  Parliamentary  Surveys  taken  in  the  time  of  the  Common-
wealth under  the  authority  of  the  Acts,  Ordinances,  &c.  of
Parliament,  for  the  sale  of  the  lands,  &c.  belonging  to  the
Crown.  [Probably  duplicates  of  those  among  the  Augmen-
tation Records.]

The  Ecclesiastical  Parliamentary  Surveys  temp.  Common-
wealth are  in  the  Lambeth  Library.  The  following
account  of  them  is  given  in  the  Record  Report  of  1800,
p.  388  :—

The  Surveys  of  the  possessions  of  Bishops,  Deans,  and
Chapters,  and  other  Benefices,  were  made,  in  pursuance
of  various  Ordinances  of  the  Parliament  during  the
Commonwealth,  by  surveyors  appointed  for  that  purpose,
acting  on  oath,  under  instructions,  with  a  view  to  the
sale  of  those  possessions.  The  form  of  the  oath  of  the
surveyors,  and  the  instructions  given  to  them,  may
be  seen  in  Scobell's  Acts  and  Ordinances  A.D.  1649,
p.  19,  &c.  The  original  surveys  were  returned  to  a
registrar  appointed  by  the  Ordinances  ;  and  duplicates
or  transcripts  thereof  were  transmitted  to  the  Trustees
or  Commissioners  nominated  for  the  sale,  who  held  their
meetings  in  a  house  in  Broad  Street  in  the  City,  where
these  documents  remained  until  after  the  Restoration.  On
the  6th  of  August  1660  the  House  of  Commons  having
received   information    (Commons'  Journals,   vol.  VIII.
p.  112,)    "That  William  Ayloffe  and Ayloffe  had

"  come  into  the  Public  Office  in  Broad  Street,  where  the
"  records,  books,  and  surveys  relating  to  Bishops  and
"  Deans  and  Chapters'  lands  were  kept  for  His  Majesty's
"  service,  and  the  public,  putting  the  officers  out  of  pos-
"  session,  sealing  up  the  doors,  breaking  open  the  locks
"  of  several  rooms  where  the  records  were,  and  pos-
"  sessing  themselves  of  the  key  of  the  door  belonging  to


240  EXCHEaUER.
PARLIAMENTAEY  SVUYEYS— continued.
