Internal evidence suggests that this document was probably compiled in the early 1760s, to provide information about votes. The ownership or leasing of freehold property was the only way an inhabitant acquired the right to vote. The vote was vested in the property and of course was for men only.
Such a document, listing as it does the names of many of the inhabitants living in the town in the 1760s, is valuable not just for family history but for wider studies of the town’s history.
Compiled by T. White.