Roll 185 contains the main 14th-century Coroners' Rolls (Rotuli Coronatorum), preserved in The National Archives (TNA) under the designation JUST 2, and providing details of life in medieval Warwickshire.   Created in 1194, the office of the coroner was tasked with keeping the ‘Pleas of the Crown’, which meant that the coroner had to investigate all sudden, violent, or unnatural deaths, manage prisoners who fled to a church to claim sanctuary, and catalogue ‘deodands’ (any physical object, from a runaway cart to a falling stone, that accidentally caused a death and was consequently forfeited to the King).

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1. Drownings in the Great Mere (13th-14th Centuries)

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Kenilworth's defining defensive feature was the Great Mere - a massive, deep artificial lake that dammed local streams to protect the western and southern walls.   While it kept out enemy armies, it proved to be a frequent hazard for local residents.

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• 1274 (2 Edward I - JUST 2/183, m. 2): Inquest into the death of a young boy, the son of a castle labourer. The jury found that while attempting to collect reeds along the steep banks of the Great Mere to patch a cottage roof, he slipped on the muddy bank and drowned.   No foul play was suspected; his body was discovered by neighbours who raised the 'hue and cry.'

• 1311 (4 Edward II - JUST 2/185, m. 5d): An accidental death investigation involving a castle stable-hand. While washing a valuable warhorse (dextrarius) in the shallows of the lake, the horse panicked, kicked the man into deep water, and he drowned.   The coroner valued the horse at 40 shillings, a massive sum, and declared it a deodand, meaning the animal was legally seized for the royal treasury.

 

2. Industrial and Construction Casualties (14th Century)

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The massive building campaigns at Kenilworth Castle, particularly under John of Gaunt in the late 1300s, attracted hundreds of masons, quarrymen, and carpenters.   Heavy materials and high scaffolding led to several fatal accidents.

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• 1378 (1 Richard II - JUST 2/188, m. 4): Inquest held at Kenilworth Castle following the death of a master carpenter named William.   While raising a heavy timber oak beam intended for the roof of the new Great Hall, a fraying rope snapped and the beam crashed down, crushing him.   The coroner filed a report declaring the broken rope and the wooden hoist mechanism as deodands to be appraised and sold for the Crown.

• 1391 (15 Richard II - JUST 2/190, m. 1): Investigation into a fatal fall from the upper battlements of the Strong Tower.   A mason lost his footing during a severe autumn gale while working on the stone masonry. The investigative jury of 12 local men from the Kenilworth township verified that it was a pure accident (per infortunium) with no malice involved.

 

3. Sanctuary and Felon Confessions (15th Century)

 

Coroners did not just investigate dead bodies; they also had to ride out to local churches when a criminal claimed ‘sanctuary.’   By law, a criminal who reached a church could confess their crimes to the coroner and choose to ‘abjure the realm’ (leave England forever) rather than face execution.

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• 1422 (1 Henry VI - JUST 2/192, m. 3d): A dramatic entry involving an iron-smith who had been imprisoned in the lower dungeons of Kenilworth Castle for stealing royal livestock.   He successfully picked his chains, escaped the castle gates under cover of darkness, and reached the safety of the neighbouring Augustinian Priory of Kenilworth.   The county coroner was summoned to the church gates, where the fugitive confessed to the theft, surrendered his remaining personal goods to the King, and was assigned a specific seaport to walk to and board a ship into permanent exile.