A list of wills and administrations proved or granted at the Peculiar Court of the Vicars Choral of Exeter, from the 1630s to 1857.

How and why the singing men in the choir at Exeter Cathedral came to have their own court is not known, but no doubt it provided a welcome extra source of income for them. Woodbury, the only parish which came under their jurisdiction, is a large one, not far south-east of Exeter. An average of about four wills/administrations was dealt with per year, though the court was certainly more active during certain historical periods, and relatively quiet in others. All the original wills were destroyed in WWII. However, about 20 inventories have survived � they are listed in the source CATH.

The present list was compiled from the list held at the Society of Genealogists, London. That list is definitely a photocopy � rather faint in places. The original list, in which testators and intestates are sorted by the first letter of their surnames and then listed chronologically, was presumably made in about the 1860s. It may still survive, but its present whereabouts are not certain.

Another list of the wills proved in the Peculiar Court of the Vicars Choral is held at the Cathedral Archive in Exeter, the �Cathedral Archive Version�. This list appears less complete, not covering any wills or administrations after about 1790. In some instances this shorter Cathedral Archive Version may be more accurate than this present later list. However, it also appears that the later list (that transcribed here) may well have corrected errors in the earlier list. The more substantial differences are recorded in the notes column (L), showing the variant found in the Cathedral Archive Version.

Abbreviations used

Type

W - Will
A - Administration
I - Inventory
O � Other

Form

or - Original
co - Copy
ab - Abstract
tr - Transcript
le - List Entry