CHAPTER IV.
Ertracts from Minutes of Council,&c., 1708–1740.
CAREFUL search on the part of the
Archivist has failed to bring to
light any earlier Minutes of the
Cardiff Town Council than those
dealt with in the present Chapter.
We cannot doubt that earlier
records of the proceedings of this
body have existed; and, indeed,
we have documentary evidence
that there were such records dating back to the time in
which King James II. left England. Writing in 1824, Town
Clerk Wood said: "The oldest book in the Corporation
coffers begins in the year 1688"; (fn. 1) and, from one of his quotations
therefrom, (fn. 2) it is clear that this was a Minute Book of the Town
Council, with entries extending from 1688 to 1710—perhaps a
little later.
In March 1894, this book was not to be found among the
muniments in the custody of the Town Clerk.
Town Clerk Wood's Memoranda contain various extracts from
records of Corporation business, namely, a Presentment dated 8
February 1656 (fn. 3) ; the proceedings in the election of a Burgess, on 5
March 1688 (fn. 4) ; the election of a Capital Burgess, 10 August 1692 (fn. 5) ;
appointment of the Constable of the Castle, 23 March &frac1692/3; (fn. 6) , and
election of Capital Burgesses on 15 December 1707. (fn. 7) The Presentment, however, was by the Grand Jury of the old Borough County
Court; the elections of 1688 and 1692 were at a sitting of the old
fortnightly Town Court; and the Constable's appointment took place
at a meeting of the old Borough Court Leet (or Quarter Sessions.)
Only the election of 1707 was the official act of the Town Council
and was recorded on the Minutes.
This last record suffices to prove the existence of a Minute Book
for that date; but Mr O. H. Jones of Fonmon has kindly placed at
the Archivist's service (inter alia) an old copy of a Council Minute
dated 22 March 1708, with which our consecutive series of these
documents begins. And if further proof were needed of the existence,
formerly, of earlier Minute Books, it would be found in the fact that
the oldest book now in the Town Clerk's custody bears, on the outside of the cover, the mark "N° 5. F."
As I have already remarked (Vol. III., pp. 405, 406, 443) the
Corporation Accounts, prior to 1725, are mixed up with those of the
Churchwardens and Overseers. For this reason the early pages of
"Cardiff Town Book N° 5" must be read as leading up to the
Churchwardens' and Overseers' Accounts set out in Vol. III., which
commence with a Churchwardens' Account for the year 1726, at page
463 of that volume. The earliest Bailiffs' Account is for 12 May
1712.
The convenience of the general reader will require many explanatory notes on this and the following chapter, and will be best met
by the insertion of such explanations in small type.