Conservation of Conisbrough Court Rolls

Heritage Doncaster has secured the Conisbrough Court Rolls into public ownership with Heritage Lottery funding, guaranteeing access to this nationally important archive. The Rolls give us a unique insight into the lives of the ordinary people of Doncaster and Rotherham from 1265 to the 1800s, but particularly from the medieval to the early modern period. Building upon our current community, volunteer and digital engagement work, Heritage Doncaster, part of Doncaster Council, are making the Rolls more accessible to their modern-day equivalents through talks, workshops, living history events and on-line interpretation. Digital versions of project events will be accessible via pages on the Doncaster Heritage website. We will conserve and digitise around 60 Rolls and then transcribe 15, adding them to the 10 on the University of Sheffield website where we will set up a facility for crowd-transcription, increasing skills and helping us to make further Rolls accessible for local people and academics.