Between 1711 & 1715, one of my ancestors -an attorney - acted as bondsman for several marriage bonds in the Congleton area of Cheshire. This makes me wonder if the bonds were a bit like present day house mortgages - an offer is made, but most people certainly don't have the full purchase price. Best wishes ... Elizabeth Atherton An interesting aspect of this is that almost all these bridegrooms-to-be who pledged £200 didn't actually have it - certainly not in ready cash, and in most cases not even by selling all their worldly goods. A familiarity with wills of the period makes this clear (and bridegrooms were much younger, and so poorer, than testators). £200 was just an awful lot of money. So while Eve and others are undoubtedly right in saying that the £200 was legally payable to the bishop if the marriage didn't go ahead, this very rarely happened. In practice the bond amounted to a binding promise to go ahead with the marriage. Best wishes Paul Prescott