This page is compiled by the Library Service to provide complete coverage of historical sources. It is not intened to replace the more detailed information available from the Devon Record Office.

For the smaller towns records may differ little from parish records. In some instance the trustees of an influential charitable institution may have taken over a variety of functions. One Devon example is the feofees of Colyton. Larger incorporated boroughs would have a council with a mayor, aldermen, councillors and one or more paid officials. The basis of the early powers would be laid down, confirmed or amended in a series of charters. The meetings of the council and its various committees would be recorded in a series of minute books. Details of financial management will appear in the account books of the Chamberlain or a similar official. Some towns had powers to hold petty sessions or even quarter sessions. Rating records, often arranged by street, can be a useful guide to the development of the town. Some towns also maintained registers of freemen who had the right to trade and to bind apprentices. This structure of economic control became less strict during the 18th century but freedom records are a useful guide to trades before the development of directories. Gradually separate committees began to oversee special functions. The records of the Exeter Watch Committee for example start in 1836. The City of Exeter has one of the finest collections of archives of any provincial town in England and there is no space to deal with them in any detail here. A published listing of the Exeter records with extensive extracts is given in the rather confusingly arranged Historical Manuscripts Commission's Report on the Records of the City of Exeter (HMSO, 1916). During the 19th century several towns had Improvement Commissioners which stood apart from the original corporation.

Further reading:
West, J. Town records. (1983)