Pembroke Quarter Session Records

This material is held atPembrokeshire Archives and Local Studies / Archifdy Sir Benfro ac Astudiaethau Lleol

Reference
- GB 213 PQ
Dates of Creation
- 1662-1973
Name of Creator
- Court of Quarter Sessions of the County of Pembroke
Language of Material
- English
Physical Description
- Information to be supplied

Scope and Content

Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the County of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, 1662-1973, including records relating to the Court in Session and Summary jurisdiction, 1734-1971; administration records, 1718-1968; police diaries, 1857-1875; records relating to alehouses, 1810-1957; records of the Clerk of the Peace, 1757-1971; records of the Treasurer, 1773-1973, including records relating to police, gaol and judicial accounts, 1823-1896; records relating to enrolment registration and deposit, 1772-1902, including records relating to charities, 1813-1879; and records relating to turnpike trusts, 1771-1835.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Justices of the Peace through the Court of Quarter Sessions were responsible for the whole administration of the county of Pembroke. In Wales, Justices of the Peace and courts of Quarter Sessions were introduced by the Acts of Union of 1534 and 1543. A separate Court covered the Town and County of Haverfordwest, although both sat in Haverfordwest. The Court was responsible for prisons, policing, lunatic asylums, roads and bridges, licensing of alehouses, and the monitoring of charities, turnpike trusts and other statutory bodies. In the 1790s, the County leased a room over the Butter Market from the Corporation of Haverfordwest for the storing of the County's records. The court was abolished by the Courts Act 1971.

Arrangement

Arranged into the following: Court in Session and Summary jurisdiction; Administration; Clerk of the Peace; Treasurer; and Enrolement, registration and deposit.

Access Information

No restrictions

Acquisition Information

Transferred to the Record Office by The Clerk of the Peace.

Note

Compiled by Annette Strauch for the ANW project. The following sources were used in the compilation of this description: Pembrokeshire Record Office, Pembrokeshire Quarter Sessions, catalogue; Jackson, W. Eric, The Structure of Local Government in England and Wales (London: Longmans, 1949); Hey, David, Oxford Dictionary of Local and Family History (Oxford, 1997); Richards, Melville, Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units (Cardiff, 1969); Jones, Francis, Treasury of Historic Pembrokeshire (Newport, 1998).