Although incomplete, the collection shows the very wide range of music which this small church, under the patronage of the Duke of Buccleuch, was able to perform. The music is of the standard English cathedral repertoire, consisting of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century services and anthems, with the works of Handel, Boyce and Maurice Greene predominating, but including a few earlier anthems, notably by Gibbons and Purcell. The collection was begun soon after the foundation of the church in 1845 and continued up to about 1888, and the books were probably kept in use until the choir was disbanded in 1914 following the outbreak of the Great War and the death of the Duke of Buccleuch. Many of the books have compositions which have been dated and initialled (or occasionally, signed) presumably in the hands of successive choirmasters.

The books show evidence of heavy use. Most are extensively finger-marked and several have leaves that have become loose or have suffered tears or other damage and have been patched or replaced with later leaves.

All volumes have been paginated (except MSS.21824-21826, which consist of printed pieces from various sources) but some of the paginations are, or have become, unreliable. Several books have been rebound, when the additional sheets were bound in, and when the leaves were trimmed.

All measurements are approximate.