In 1646 Parliament negotiated a substantial loan from the city of London, secured by the sale of ecclesiastical temporalities. An ordinance was passed abolishing archbishops and bishops and transferring their lands and possessions for the use of the Commonwealth. These surveys represent the examinations conducted in this connection in the Darlington Ward of the bishopric, which at the time was beleaguered by the Scots. Covers the manors of Auckland, Darlington, Evenwood and Wolsingham. Significant in assessing the effects of the Civil War on grass-roots society in the North-East.