Although primarily concerned with the Cheapes, a prominent landholding family in Fife and Perthshire during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there is also a considerable amount of material on the Scrimgeours of Myres, the Bonars of Rossie and Lumquhat, the Hardies in Wester Rossie, the Scotts of Rossie and the Lindsays of Kilwhiss. There is information on land in the parishes of Abernethy, Auchtermuchty, Collessie, Fossoway and Newburgh prior to its acquisition by the Cheape family. This additional material comprises:
- Scrimgeour of Myres family writs, 1541-1610 relating to the third part of Wester Rossie and the resignation and selling thereof by James Scrimgeour to James Bonar of Rossie in November 1607.
- Bonar of Rossie family writs, 1454-1667, relating to: Easter Rossie; the three parts of Wester Rossie that had been held by James Scrimgeour of Myres, Thomas Hardie of Daftmill and John Bonar of Lumquhat; the barony of Rossie; and Lumquhat Mill.
- Hardie of Rossie family writs, 1531-1608 relating to a third part of Wester Rossie.
- Writs, 1630-1668 relating to the granting of the Barony of Rossie (comprising the lands of Easter Rossie, Wester Rossie and the Loch of Rossie ) to Colonel Sir James Scott of Rossie Kt, gentleman of the royal bedchamber, and the grant of the liferent of the towns and lands of Lumquhat Mill and Wester Rossie to Lady Antonia Willobie, his wife. In 1648, their daughter Mary Scott was infeft with Rossie in conjoint fee as part of her marriage contract with Sir John Brown of Fordell, but resigned the lands and barony of Rossie in liferent to James Cheape and in fee to Henry Cheape, his eldest son and heir, in 1668.
- Lindsay of Kilwhiss papers, 1647-1707, being documents relating to that portion of Kilwhiss sold by James Lindsay of Kilwhiss to James Cheape of Rossie in 1669.
The collection is mainly comprised of financial and legal material and includes accounts of crops, livestock, seeds and trees, together with plans of husbandry and papers such as those relating to the draining of the Loch of Rossie. There are also many accounts rendered by tradesmen and professionals, such as apothecaries and surgeons, bakers, booksellers and binders, candlemakers, cloth manufacturers and tailors, coppersmiths and pewterers, dyers, fleshers, garden seedsmen, glaziers, goldsmiths, inn-keepers, jewellers, mowers, slaters, smiths, tailors, wigmakers and barbers, wine and spirit merchants, and wrights. The correspondence within the collection mainly concerns legal, financial and business matters but also has society and family news and reports of national and international events, including military campaigns on the Continent and the Act of Union (1707).
Among those items worthy of special mention are: lists of books purchased and owned by the Lairds of Rossie, a roup roll for the Mains of Airdit (1760-64), outbuilding plans and inventories for the houses of Mugdrum and Rossie, and accounts relating to the burning of witches in Collessie parish (1662). The correspondence of William Cheape gives valuable insight into the weaving and linen industry in Scotland. There are also references to Patrick (Peter) Cheape, merchant in Glasgow and supercargo on the "Loyalty of Glasgow" which was attacked by pirates en route to Barbados in 1719, and his brother, David, who commanded "The Wager" in Lord Anson's squadron which was driven ashore and lost on the southern coast of Chile on 14 May 1741. Other subjects covered include the militia between 1650 and 1680, education and apprenticeships, and the episcopal meeting houses at Falkland and Perth.