ABSTRACT
OFFICE OF WORKS 463 periods ending 31st March and 30th September respectively, so that the prices can be assigned to definite harvest years. Before the Civil War many of the accounts run for harvest years, either from Michaelmas to Michaelmas of each year (1570-75) or 1st October to 30th September (1597-1606 and 1610-39). But at certain periods the financial year 1st April to 31st March is substituted for the harvest year as the period of account (1578-97 and 1645-49), while there are years of transition between the two systems and other special cases ; the adoption of the financial year in 1578 coincides with a change by which the expenditure began to be recorded by the Paymaster, in place of the Surveyor.
