Founded in 1120–1 by the powerful Lady of Skipton Cecily de Rumilly, and her husband, William Meschin, lord of Copeland, Embsay Priory (later to move to its more renowned site of Bolton in Wharfedale), was one of the first generation of northern houses of regular canons whose foundations owed much both to the aspirations of the baronial class and the influence of the archbishops of York. Despite its modest size, Bolton Priory has been well served by historians: A. H. Thompson, History and architectural description of the Priory of St Mary, Bolton-in-Wharfedale (Thoresby Society 1928); Bolton Priory rentals and ministers' accounts, ed. I Kershaw (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 1970) and Bolton Priory: the economy of a northern monastery (Oxford 1973); and The Bolton Priory compotus, 1286–1325, together with a priory account roll for 1377–78, ed. I. Kershaw and D. M. Smith (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 2000). Katrina Legg's addition to this corpus – an edition of the ‘lost cartulary’ of Bolton – is most welcome. The volume contains a reconstruction of the cartulary, the existence of which was noted by Roger Dodsworth, based on the Coucher Book of Bolton preserved at Chatsworth House, transcripts made from the cartulary by Dodsworth in 1638 and 1643 and surviving original charters. From the evidence that she assembles Legg argues that the lost cartulary appears to have been compiled in the early fourteenth century, shortly after a major acquisition of property at Appletreewick, at what was a time of economic reconstruction on the one hand, and ongoing Scottish raids on the other. Legg provides a meticulous edition of 467 documents from the Coucher Book and Roger Dodsworth's transcripts, together with appendices containing an edition of charters – both originals and transcripts – which apparently were omitted from the cartulary. The volume is a valuable addition both to northern history and to monastic studies, and is testimony to the growing interest in the regular canons in Britain.