Surprising as it may seem, over 1500 coroners’ inquest reports survive from Northamptonshire in the fourteenth century. Most inquests reached a verdict of accidental death or unlawful killing and sometimes suicide or natural causes. Reports are short but they all contain the name of the deceased, where the inquest was held, brief circumstances surrounding the person’s death, and the jury verdict. Depending on the circumstances, the names of the person who first found the body, the names of two people who provided pledges for the finder, the names of 12 jurors, and the names of others involved in the incident may be recorded.

Inquest reports are useful in several ways. First, they provide insights into the things that people did in their everyday lives. Second, some reports name places within parishes where events occurred, like a field or a mill, and so they are a useful source of information about the landscape. Third, family historians may be able to link a surname to a town or village much earlier than other records allow.

The reports contained in coroners’ rolls are mostly in The National Archives JUST2 series and date from around 1296 to 1420 although some years are missing. Northamptonshire’s inquests have been indexed and are searchable on www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk.

There are two ways to find inquests relating to a particular place. From the website’s home page, click on ‘Resources’ and then on ‘Northamptonshire Coroners’ Rolls’. Individual rolls can then be accessed and it is easy to see the places where inquests took place and the summary details. Alternatively, search the website for a place name and click on hits that show ‘Abstracts of Coroners’ Inquests in Northamptonshire’. This, of course, will identify all other hits on the website for that place name including Feet of Fines, Gaol delivery rolls and taxation returns.

The numbers of inquests in the hundred of Higham Ferrers are; Bozeat 3, Chelveston 1, Easton Maudit 4, Higham Ferrers 10, Irchester 5, Newton Bromswold 2, Raunds 2, Ringstead 2, Rushden 5, Strixton 2 and Wollaston 7. There were more, but this is all that has survived for Higham hundred. Bear in mind that the rolls are over 600-700 years old and information is lost on some inquests because of damage or discolouration but many are still remarkably clear.

The rolls also include additional material such as abjurations of the realm where felons sought sanctuary in a church and confessed their crimes and accusations by felons naming their accomplices.