Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Minute Book 1617-1660, edited by Kay Kearsey and Maureen Weinstock (volume 20)

In the seventeenth century the town of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis was emerging from its medieval troubles to become a significant harbour on the south coast. The Minute Book, covering the years 1617-1660, provides the context for its economic and strategic development. It gives detailed surveys of the properties and rents, as well as listing the customs duties and acting as a register for the enrolment of freemen and apprentices. It documents the daily decisions of the assembly and sets out the ordinances by which the town was governed; noting the leaseholders and profits of the market, bridge and customs duties, and appointments of the officers who regulated affairs during the turbulent years of the reign of Charles I, the Civil War and the Commonwealth. 2020, xxvii, 246pp, casebound, £22.00, ISBN 978-0-900339-23-3