The main owners of property in Gloucester over the centuries were the Borough Council, the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral, Llanthony Priory and various charitable organisations.  Records exist for these sources but they are not indexed, not easy to access unless you can get to the Archives and definitely not online.

This resource based on Gloucester Copy Leases provides a spreadsheet containing name, address and status or occupation of the tenant, the owners (usually but not always the Mayor, Burgesses and Citizens of the city), the date of each lease and the type and location of each property.  The latter can be precise but is more often a general description of the area.  More recent leases also contain a map.

Currently (December  2023) we have Volumes  1 to 15 available online. You can browse, sort and search the data by clicking the button.

Gloucester Borough Records copy leases are held in Gloucestershire Archives: Reference: GBR/J3.

There are 19 volumes of copy leases dating from 1524-1881 that are held at Gloucestershire Archives.  17 volumes have been filmed and the images, over 4500 of them, saved.  

A few years ago, Gloucestershire Family History Society was left a legacy of just over one thousand pounds and it was decided to use that money to pay for the Gloucester Borough Records copy leases to be photographed.

We are very grateful to Liz Jack who has been coordinating this project and has completed the first transcription.