Meet Matthew Payne, Keeper of the Muniments

‘Muniment’, usually in the plural, ‘muniments’, is a word that often provokes puzzlement. Its origin lies in the Latin munimentum, which meant a defence or fortification (from the verb munio, to build a wall around something).

This original meaning came to be extended to apply to things that guaranteed your defence in law, principally to any particular rights that you claimed, or to land and property that you owned, that is, title deeds and other similar documents like royal charters that conveyed and demonstrated these rights and ownership.

Since these documents themselves were then crucial proof of what you owned (and so where your money came from), it was common practice to construct an extremely secure place to store them. This is why you will find many larger churches and stately homes boasting ‘muniment’ rooms. In due course, the meaning of the term ‘muniment’ itself became interchangeable with the term ‘archive’, but it was really in its original form that the Abbey adopted the use of the word ‘muniment’ when it appointed its first Keeper of the Muniments, Dr Edward Scott, in 1893. 

The Abbey’s archive, or muniment collection, is one of the oldest and richest in England. It comprises the records of Westminster Abbey from the tenth century to the present day. It includes material relating to the Abbey’s extensive estates, which it held until the late nineteenth century, scattered widely across southern England and The Midlands. The collection spans the grand and the gloriously mundane, from royal charters and coronation records to leases, coroners' inquests, financial accounts, and tradesmen's bills for everyday items such as stocks of ale and bread, shoe repairs, and farming equipment.

With thanks to Dr Matthew Payne, Keeper of the Muniments. Photography by Paul Grover.