Churchwardens' accounts

The churchwarden, the oldest officer position within Christian parish churches,[1] was generally elected by an urban congregation once a year at Easter.

[2][1] On the British Isles, churchwardens' accounts are most prevalent in England, followed by Wales and Ireland, but are not readily found from Scotland.

In the context of English history near the beginning of the 16th century, Kümin described them as "promis[ing] unrivalled insights into the public lives of the vast majority of the population", as the one thing most Englishmen had in common at the time was that "they were parishioners".

[3] In England, the historical value of churchwardens' accounts has seen efforts to establish a database collecting them to improve accessibility and encourage their utilization.

[1][8] Churchwardens' accounts have been used extensively by historian Eamon Duffy in his books The Stripping of the Altars (1992) and The Voices of Morebath.