Bangor Rate Books

This collection consists of four rate books for Bangor parish, city and county districts, for the years 1837, 1838, 1852 and 1870. The rate book for 1870 (reference number 32815) also contains 16 miscellaneous receipts, loosely inserted, relating to Penrhyn Hall, Bangor for years 1873 to 1874.

The amount of information given in the rate books regarding the occupants of property varies. Item 2726 (for the year 1852) is a 159 page exhaustive list of the rate-paying inhabitants of Bangor. 6838 (for 1837) gives names of occupiers of property, together with residences and particulars of trade or profession, amount at which assessed and amount of rate paid. 6839 (for 1838) is a comprehensive list with names of occupiers and owners of property entered on the printed forms prescribed by the Poor Law Commissioners. 32815 (for 1870) gives names of the occupiers and owners together with names and descriptions of the properties' assessable values and amounts collected.

The material contains details of inhabitants of varying degrees of wealth, from paupers (6838) to holders of extensive property such as the Pennants of the Penrhyn Estate, Bangor.

The parish of Bangor was a civil as well as an ecclesiastical administrative unit. In common with other parishes it was a major instrument of local government with responsibility for poor relief, highways and law and order, which continued until reforms in the late nineteenth century. Rate books were compiled to record details of the rate paying inhabitants of a particular area. This collection relates to occupiers and owners of property in the city and county districts of Bangor in Caernarfonshire (now known as the county unit of Gwynedd).

Material was received at various times and incorporated into the General Collection of Bangor Manuscripts . It is not arranged in any particular order.

Open for consultation.

Description compiled by Anne Lenaghan, October 2001

Item level word-processed list is available at the Archives Department of the University of Wales, Bangor. Reference numbers: General Collection of Bangor Manuscripts: 2726, 6838-6839, 32815

Also held at the Archives Department of the University of Wales, Bangor are the Penrhyn Castle Papers and the Penrhyn B.R.A. (acquired from the British Records Association).