Probate inventories (drawn up to protect the heirs to an estate and to facilitate the distribution of bequests) selected from mainly urban parishes yield detail on a wide range of occupations.Sixty inventories selected from the 590 that survive for the thirteen parishes of the City and County of Lincoln between 1661 and 1714. The parishes chosen are those in which urban occupations and residences rather than agricultural predominate.Probate inventories were drawn up to protect the heirs to an estate and to facilitate the distribution of bequests. This selection, together with an comprehensive introduction which includes a survey of the City of Lincoln and chapters on a wide range of occupations - butchers, farmers, gardeners, millers, bakers, goldsmiths etc., as well as a glossary of terms and an index of people and place names, makes fascinating reading, bothfor the serious scholar and for the armchair social historian. There is much here to study and to dip into.
