| Collection | GB 0231 University of Aberdeen, Special Collections |
| Level | Fonds |
| Ref No | MS 57 |
| Title | Stent Roll for the Burgh of Aberdeen |
| Date | 1748 - 1749 |
| Extent | 1 volume |
| Creator Name | Aberdeenshire Commissioners of Supply (1720 - 1798)
Aberdeen Burgh Council (fl 1153 - 1891) |
| Administrative History | Commissioners of Supply were introduced to Scotland in the seventeenth century. Commissioners were chosen from the wealthy land-owning classes of each of the old Scottish counties, and appointed, initially at least, for the specific purpose of allocating and collecting the " cess " , or land tax from their peers. The tax was first introduced on a regular basis in 1643, and records created in the course of its collection are known variously (depending on date and place) as land tax returns, valuation books, or stent rolls. From the Middle Ages, burghs had organised their own form of taxation in the form of feu charters, under which owners paid a fixed sum in perpetuity. The system of land tax introduced by the Exchequer in 1643 was however, eventually extended to cover the burgh authorities as well as the counties.
The Commissioners were later entrusted with other duties, such as the enforcement of the Education Act of 1696, and from 1718 shared responsibilities with the Justices of the Peace for roads and bridges. Their responsibilities were gradually diminished by local government reorganisation after 1832, in particular by the Valuation of Lands Act of 1854, and the introduction of county councils in 1889, although they continued to work alongside county councils on joint police committees until 1929. |
| Source | Donated to the University in 1923, by James Fowler Kellas Johnstone. Johnstone (c. 1846 - 1928) was one of the foremost authorities on the bibliography of Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland, his lifetime's research on the subject culminating in the compilation, with Alexander Webster Robertson, of 'Bibliographia Aberdonensis', 2 vols (Aberdeen: Third Spalding Club, 1929-30). His knowledge of early Aberdeen printing and local history was instrumental in securing the University's acquisition of several important book and manuscript collections in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He also made generous personal gifts of rare books and manuscripts to the University in the same period. For further details see obituary in 'Aberdeen University Review', 16 (1928-29), 94 - 95; and J. Malcolm Bulloch 'J.F. Kellas Johnstone' (1928) (held in the University's Local Collection, ref. p Lambda Bulloch, J.M. kel). |
| Description | 'Stent roll of the burgh of Aberdeen, imposed and stented upon the inhabitants and others lyable ..mertimes [Martinmas] 1748 to [Martinmas] mertimes 1749' .
The volume is arranged by Quarter within the town (Footdee, Green, Crooked and Even Quarters), with occupants listed geographically therein. Income and taxation levies for street money, victual (beerhouse, freehouse and publichouse), lands and fishings, houses, merchant trade, casual profit, water and lights are listed. Names and signatures of the stent masters are also given. |
| Accruals | None expected. |
| Access Status | Open |
| Access Conditions | The records are available subject to the signed acceptance of the Department's access conditions. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the University Archivist and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. |
| Language | English and Scots |
| Physical Description | No physical conditions affecting use of collection. |
| Related Material | The following records created by the old administrative units covering the historic counties of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are also deposited in this repository:
Aberdeenshire land valuation books, 1634 - 1795 (transcripts for 7 years) (MS 507)
Aberdeenshire land valuation books, 1644, 1649, 1667 (MS 1037)
Aberdeenshire land valuation book, 1750 (MS 1038)
Poll book of the Shire and Burgh of Aberdeen, 1696 (MS 568)
Alphabetical index to the first 76 volumes of the Council Register of the City of Aberdeen from 1398 - 1800 (MS 595)
Testimonials granted by the Baillies of Aberdeen Burgh, 1589 - 1603 (MS 1050)
Abstract register of sasines for Aberdeenshire, 1599 - 1606 (transcript made early 19th c) (MS 837)
The main series of records for these authorities are deposited at Aberdeen City Archives, Town House, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AQ. A catalogue of these records is available for consultation in the University Reading Room. |