he _Domesday Book_ is, of course, a mine
of wealth. The Public Record Office contains many documents which will
be of great service--the _Testa de Neville_ (Edward II.), _Marshall
Rolls, Nonarum Inquisitiones, Pipe Rolls, Patent Rolls, Close Rolls,
Hundred Rolls, Inquisitiones post-mortem_, and the _Feet of Fines_. The
_Manor Court Rolls_, if they still exist, in the custody of the lord of
the manor, should also be consulted. The journals of local antiquarian
societies and county histories will of course be examined. The history
of the families connected with the parish must be traced. The British
Museum and the College of Arms contain fine collections of _Heralds'
Visitations_, and Burke's _Landed Gentry_ and Dugdale's _Baronage_
are the chief sources of information. Old _wills_ will yield much
information, many of which are in course of publication by the Index
Society, and county archaeolgical journals; and Somerset House and many
diocesan registries contain the original documents. The Historical
Manuscripts Commission has published many volumes of borough records
which are of great service, and the lives of any great men connected
with the parish may be studied in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_. As we have already pointed out, the parish chest contains
valuable sources of information upon the history of the village, and
its contents should be carefully examined.

The registers of the diocese contain many documents relating to the
ecclesiastical history of the parish, and from them we can obtain a
list of the rectors or vicars. If the church was connected with any
monastery, Dugdale's _Monasticon_ will furnish some information. The
Public Record Office contains the documents _Taxatio Ecclesiastica P.
Nicholai IV._ and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, which give an account of the
value of the first-fruits and tenths, and also some volumes on the sale
of chantries, and the inventories of church goods. The name of the saint
to whom the church is dedicated must not always be accepted, in spite of
years of usage, and should be confirmed by reference to some early will
of a chief person of the village buried in the church, which usually
gives the name of the patron saint. The story of the church writ in
stone should be traced by the various styles of architecture, with the
help of Rickman's _Gothic Architecture_ or Parker's _Glossary of Gothic
Architecture_. If there has ever been a monastery in the parish,
Dugdale's _Monas