The Past Harvests Project
The Past Harvests Project
Posted by es970
10 June 2026
Historians on the Past Harvests team have spent a rewarding few months delving into the rich archives of the Duchy of Cornwall.
Located a short distance from Buckingham Palace, the Duchy’s collections contain records reaching back to its medieval origins as the Earldom of Cornwall. They include royal correspondence, household accounts and portraits of previous Princes of Wales.
Our historians were searching for a different kind of treasure, however. To reconstruct past land-use and agricultural practice on Duchy landholdings, we examined maps, surveys, farm accounts, rentals and the famous Duchy Assession Rolls.
The latter record the size (in English and Cornish acres), tenants and rents of properties in the Duchy’s Assessionable manors, typically every seven years. In practice, this meant photographing and deciphering long, multi-sided vellum rolls written in Latin until around 1735.
A Cornish acre was a customary rather than statute acre. It is therefore varied by location, but was as large as 120 or as small as 64 statute (or modern) acres.
We have now completed the ‘backbone’ of this initial data gathering and have begun digging deeper into our chosen case studies. This will involve locating sources, such as leases and accounts, which are particular to the farms we have chosen to study.
Our work has benefitted immensely from the insights and expertise of the Duchy of Cornwall’s archive staff. We look forward to continuing our collaboration as we move into the next research stage.
Written by Alexander Hibberts, Postdoctoral Research Associate
