Rees (ed.), The Cartulary of Lilleshall Abbey, 1997, ISBN 0 9501227 6 9. 237 pp.  Shropshire has already been indebted to Una Rees for the two earlier cartulary editions, those of Shrewsbury Abbey and Haughmond Abbey. Lilleshall Abbey was an Augustinian house, lying in the wooded area to the north-east of Telford. It was never a very wealthy community, and its income was diminished by the large numbers of travellers it was obliged to succour. This volume has entailed a great deal of work in searching for the originals of the charters and collating the two. In addition to the charters there are also documents relating to taxation, a rental of the Abbey’s properties in Shrewsbury, and items relating to the Abbey’s attempts to augment its revenues by appropriating some of its churches. This gives only a small indication of the range of the contents, which represent the archives used by the Abbey officials in their dealings with their estates and legal business.

Rees (ed.), The Cartulary of Haughmond Abbey, 1985 (jointly with University of Wales Press), ISBN 0 708309070. 294 pp. Haughmond Abbey probably began as a small religious community towards the end of the 11th century. In 1135 it attracted the patronage of William Fitzalan of Clun, who established a house of Augustinian canons.  The abbey stands against the wooded escarpment of Haughmond Hill, partly terraced into its western side, and its location resulted in a rather unconventional ground plan.  Haughmond became one of the Augustinian order’s larger, more high status and more prosperous foundations.  The Cartulary contains over 1,380 documents dating from the early 12th century to 1480, relating not just to Shropshire but to Wales, the Welsh Border, and other counties, such as Norfolk and Suffolk, where the abbey held land.  The cartulary includes over 170 leases, and forty mortgages – a type of document which rarely survives.