The manuscript from which this list (and indeed the whole register) was sourced is so far unknown to the current researcher, as Capes refuses to state anything about where he has located his material. Capes does, however, provide some context and summary for the contents of the whole manuscript in his introduction (i-xx). He also suggests that the relic list itself was copied down during one of Bishop Swinfield's numerous visits to Leominster (xvi).
The dating of this list to 1286 refers to the year in which bishop Richard Swinfield copied the list into his register and is not intended to suggest the time of its original composition. Its original composition is a more complicated matter. The latest-dated saint is S. Thomas de Cantilupe (d. 1282, but canonised officially in 1320-- after, one should note, Bishop Swinfield copied out the list). However, the whole of the list is in the simple style of many early lists rather than in litanic groupings, and it begins with a collection of whole bodies--Edward, 'Elvene' (S. Elvan? S. Elwin?), and Ethelmod. Notably, Thomas de Cantilupe is the first saint to appear in this list: his name is probably a recent addition to a rather older list. The collection, at the least, seems mostly older in character. Of note are relics of the grave earth of e.g., Ss. Columba ('Columchille'), Finian, and Brigid, and a bone of S. Winwalloc. There are also the remains or relics of the priest 'Hune', indicated to have been the chaplain of Æthelthryth ('relquiis Hune sacerdotis, capellani Etheldrithe').