COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION

Memory of the World

INTRODUCTION

The Memory of the World Programme protects the collective memory of the peoples of the world. This archive shows the United Kingdom’s most important memories told through some of its most prized documents, photographs, film, audio, and letters. UNESCO protects these documents as they are of vital importance in preserving cultural identities, in bridging the past and the present and in shaping the future. 

The Memory of the World Programme
is a global plan to safeguard the world’s documentary heritage against collective amnesia, the ravages of war, decay and deterioration.

ABOUT

What is Memory of the World?

In 1993 a United Nations committee met to plan how to preserve significant documentary heritage from across the globe by cataloguing and protecting historical archives for future generations to learn from and enjoy. The result was the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, the documentary heritage equivalent of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

KEY FIGURES

The UK’s Memory of the World
contribution in numbers

0
DATE FOUNDED
0
INT'L INSCRIPTIONS
0
UK INSCRIPTIONS
MISSION

The Purpose of Memory of the World

The Memory of the World Programme ensures nations of the world do not lose and continue to lose large parts of their documentary heritage – through collective amnesia, the ravages of war, decay and deterioration. Its mission is to focus world attention on the need to safeguard endangered and unique library and archive collections, and make them accessible to everyone.

Two Registers:
International and National

INTERNATIONAL

The International Memory of the World Register recognises documentary heritage of global significance and includes documents such as the Magna Carta. It inspires both nations and regions to identify, list and preserve their respective documentary heritage for the collective memory of humankind. 

NATIONAL

The UK Memory of the World Register honours documentary heritage of national and regional significance and includes documents such as the Death Warrant of King Charles I. This invaluable archive is a remarkable and rich insight into a small island’s past and mark on the world. This is Britain’s collective memory.

Immerse Yourself
in the Memory of the World Archive

BROWSE

Quick Look

Use the links below to quick-jump down the page to the relevant inscription.

CHAPTER I

People’s Rights

The development of people’s political, social and cultural rights in the UK has taken generations of conflict, campaigning and protest. Recognised on the UK UNESCO Memory of the World Register are some of the milestone documents relating to the development of these rights. This includes the Magna Carta issued in 1215 which limited the divine right of kings, through to the Bill of Rights in 1689 which effectively made the UK’s political system what it is today. These rights have been brutally hard-won as inscriptions including the Peterloo Massacre Relief Books and the papers relating to the Women’s Suffrage Movement show.

MANUSCRIPT

The Magna Carta

INTERNATIONAL

No other document has left its imprint on the development of human rights as the Magna Carta. Born out of the conflict between King John and his Barons in 1215, the “Great Charter” is one of the most important documents in the world. The Magna Carta established the principle that all free men have the right to justice and a fair trial, and that no one, not even the King, is above the law. These principles inspired documents centuries later including the United States Bill of Rights (1791). In promoting the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt said it was her goal to set up a ‘Magna Carta for mankind’.

“No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way harmed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him, except by the legal judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To none will we sell, to none deny or delay, right or justice.”

MAGNA CARTA, 1215
TYPE OF HERITAGE

Manuscript

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2009

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Salisbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, British Library

The Magna Carta stands as a living document, a testimony to our collective human memory on the development of our inalienable human rights. Four original copies of the Magna Carta, sealed by King John remain with us today. These four 1215 documents are recognised by the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

The Declaration of Arbroath

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Manuscript

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2016

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

National Records of Scotland

Widely seen as Scotland’s most iconic document, The Declaration’s stirring language, and evocative sentiments of nationhood and freedom, have given it a special distinction over the centuries, not just in Scotland but worldwide. The Declaration is a letter written in 1320 by the barons and whole community of the kingdom of Scotland to the Pope, asking him to recognise Scotland’s independence and acknowledge Robert the Bruce as the country’s lawful king.

DISCOVER

"As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself"

THE DECLARATION OF ARBROATH, 1320
MANUSCRIPT

The Bill of Rights
1689

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Manuscript

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Houses of Parliament

There is much to explore in humanity’s story regarding the development of the rights of an individual against the State. The Bill of Rights 1689 sits as a cornerstone of this narrative. At its core, the Bill of Rights guarantees frequent parliament meetings, free elections, and freedom of speech within Parliament, principles that are still in force today. The Bill has acted as a model for the first ten amendments to the US Bill of Rights . It’s global significance has also been marked on other instruments detailing the rights of individuals including the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

Peterloo Relief Fund
Account Book

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The John Rylands University Library, Manchester University Library

On 16 August 1819, 80,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Fields in Manchester to advocate for reform of Parliament. At least 15 protesters were killed that afternoon by government soldiers and 700 seriously injured. Spectators were brutally cut down by mounted cavalry wielding sabres, others were trampled by horses and panicking crowds. The Peterloo Relief Fund Account Book provides vivid, first-hand documentary evidence of one of the most significant events in British history. This small volume records payments made to those who were wounded in the Massacre, and to the dependants of those killed. Some 350 names are recorded, with graphic descriptions of their injuries and the circumstances in which they were inflicted.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Documentary Heritage Of The Women’s Suffrage Movement In Britain, 1865-1928

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Women’s Library, The Parliamentary Archive

A collection telling the extraordinary struggle of the women’s suffrage movement in Britain from the 1860s to all women gaining the vote in 1928. It includes the 1866 Petition which enabled John Stuart Mill to be the first person in Parliament to call for women’s suffrage; and ends with the success of the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act of 1928.

"Courage calls to courage everywhere,
and its voice cannot be denied."

MILLICENT FAWCETT

The documents represent the women’s suffrage movement in Britain, and Parliament’s response to this, and seeks to epitomise a movement that continues to excite the public imagination and generate academic debate among historians of suffrage, feminism and British political life. This select group of items has been chosen to create a narrative of this movement, an inheritance that ‘keeps alive the history of women’s long march to equality, which is so often forgotten or ignored’ Mary Stott.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Medieval Records of St Giles’s Hospital, Norwich

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Norfolk Record Office

The archive of The Great Hospital in Norwich includes 15th century annual accounts, court rolls and details of how patients lived. The Great Hospital, also known as St Giles’, was founded in 1249 and still provides care for the elderly in the city.

DISCOVER
LETTERS

The Correspondence of Robert Owen 1821-1858

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Letters

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2016

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Co-operative Heritage Trust

These are the letters of the Robert Owen (1821-1858) who was key in developing the ideas of the worldwide co-operative movement, which today boasts over 860 million members. Owen pioneered ideas well before their time including fair working conditions, education for workers, reduction in working hours and sick pay.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Charles Booth’s Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London, 1886-1903

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2016

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

LSE Library

Charles Booth’s Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London, undertaken between 1886 and 1903, originated in the profound unease about poverty that came to a head in London in the 1880s, when acute economic problems heightened long-standing social tensions. Booth set out to remedy what he felt was a lack of facts about poverty, by investigating and documenting ‘the condition and occupations of the inhabitants of London’. Booth’s Inquiry profoundly influenced the public debate around poverty and social policy in the decades that followed.

Combining panoramic scope and scale with an extraordinary level of detail, the archive of the Inquiry reveals the living and working conditions of the inhabitants of what was then the largest city in the world. Over 450 volumes of interviews, questionnaires, observations and statistical information document the social and economic life of London, highlighting all of its contrasts, complexities and contradictions.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum Records, 1814-1991

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

West Yorkshire Archive Service

The West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield was one of the world’s most famous and active research institutions for the study of the ‘insane brain’. The research work and the resulting scientific developments were ground breaking and started global scientific changes in the treatment of the mentally ill. The records also given an unparalleled insight into the medical, social and family history of the West Riding, the largest geographical county in England. The collection includes over 5000 photographs of patients from the late 1860s onwards, literally putting a human face on a patient number.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Royal Scottish National Institution Archives

NATIONAL

The Royal Scottish National Institution was the foremost institution providing custodial care for mentally impaired children in Scotland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It gained an international reputation for its enlightened approach to care and treatment attracting patients from England and across the British Empire

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Children’s
Society Archive

NATIONAL

The Children’s Society Archive charts the development of child care practice and policy from the Victorian period onwards. The estimated 140,000 case contain unique information about the history and practice of childcare, behavioural and mental health issues, the diseases of poverty, and nutrition in Victorian and Edwardian times.

DISCOVER
WRITING

Diaries of
Anne Lister

NATIONAL

This unique set of diaries (1806-1840) which run to four million words were written by Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, West Yorkshire (1791-1840) a remarkable landowner, business woman, intrepid traveller, mountaineer and lesbian.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Edinburgh And Lothian Hiv/Aids Collections

NATIONAL

This inscription charts the unprecedented rise of HIV/AIDS in Edinburgh and Lothian, and documents the medical and social responses to the disease at a local level combining the records of the NHS, local government, charities and campaign groups.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Saving Lives
At Sea

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that saves lives at sea. The collection relates to the early days of the institution, known until 1854 as the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. The efforts of Sir William Hilary and others involved in the charity’s early days are recorded in these unique documents and reveal their part in the development the first national lifeboat institution in the world, which, to date, has saved over 140,000 lives.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

WVS/WRVS
Narrative Records

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Women’s Voluntary Service

The Women’s Voluntary Service for Air Raid Precautions was established by Lady Reading in May 1938. By 1943 WVS had just over one million members, making it one of the largest volunteering organisations in British history and had evolved to do just about anything. At the cessation of hostilities, the WVS transformed itself into one of the leading providers of social care; its activities and development over the following fifty years inextricably linked to the growth of the welfare state.

DISCOVER
CHAPTER II

War and Peace

We are an island shaped and devastated by war. More than one million British and Commonwealth servicemen and over 70,000 British civilians lost their lives in the two World Wars alone. The UK Memory of the World Register includes many of the most important archives relating to some of the bloodiest battles in history, the generals and public figures behind them, and people’s stories and personal experiences. From documents to memorabilia and photos, the below inscriptions reveal and illustrate the true and bloody cost of war, reminding us all that it is the world’s shared responsibility to work toward a lasting peace.

FILM

The Battle of the Somme

INTERNATIONAL

The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles in history. On the first day alone, there were more than 57,000 British casualties, and by the end of the campaign, the Allied and Central Powers would lost more than 1.5 million men. The 1916 film The Battle of the Somme is uniquely significant both as the compelling documentary record of one of the key battles of the First World War, and as the first feature-length documentary film record of combat produced anywhere in the world.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2005

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Imperial War Museum

Seen by many millions of British civilians within the first month of distribution, The Battle of the Somme allowed the civilian home-front audience to share the experiences of the front-line soldier, helping both to create and to reflect the concept of Total War. The film also played a major part in establishing the methodology of documentary and propaganda film, and initiated debate on a number of issues relating to the ethical treatment of “factual” film which continue to be relevant to this day.

DISCOVER

"As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule."

WATCH THE FULL 1916 FILMS
ARCHIVE

Haig Papers

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2012 (UK)
2015 (INTERNATIONAL)

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

National Library of Scotland

The First World War shaped the world throughout the 20th century, and profoundly affected the combatant nations in an unprecedented way. Field Marshal Douglas Haig commanded the largest British Army ever assembled. His diary provides insight into how and why decisions were made, and of the interplay between Haig and other Allied generals. As undoubtedly the most detailed and extensive account kept by any senior commander during the war, the diary is unique. Written in these circumstances, it offers an immediacy that few documentary sources can in the day-to-day record of this cataclysm.

DISCOVER
FILM

Life Story Of David Lloyd George

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Library of Wales

Referred to by many film historians as ‘the find of the century’, the 1918 biopic ‘The Life Story of David Lloyd George’ is a unique item in the history of not just British cinema but World cinema. Directed by Maurice Elvey, this 152 minute 35mm film is thought to be the first feature length biopic of a contemporary living politician. Filmed during the last months of WW1, and following a script by Sir Sydney Low, the film travels to locations associated with Lloyd George from his birthplace in Manchester, Llanystymdwy and Porthmadoc where he spent his childhood, schooldays and early career, a remarkable torchlight procession through the streets of Caernarfon, a re-creation of the 1908 Birmingham riots with over 10,000 extras, fascinating footage of a guided tour of a WW1 munitions factory to Westminster and eventually Downing Street.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

The Commonwealth War Graves

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2018

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The CWGC Casualty archive consists of over 300,000 documents which record the details and commemoration location of each casualty the Commission is responsible for commemorating, some 1.7 million individuals in total from both world wars. The Commission was set up to provide perpetual commemoration to those who had died while serving in the British and Imperial forces during the First World War. To realise this task, it first had to collect the necessary details regarding those individuals, including the location of their graves, if known.

This information was provided by various Labour Companies and Graves Concentration Units who were set up under the control of the military authorities. They were tasked with searching for the graves and remains of the war dead and conducting the battlefield exhumation and reburials which resulted. The Commissions task was later extended to cover British and Commonwealth casualties from the Second World War. The records include grave registration documents and headstone schedules. In many cases, these represent the earliest recorded information that the Commission was able to gather about those who came under its care.

DISCOVER
AUDIO DOCUMENT

Appeal Of 18 June 1940

INTERNATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Audio Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2005

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Institut National de l’Audiovisuel(INA) & British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

The Appeal of 18 June is one of the most remarkable pieces in the history of radio broadcasting. The Appeal showed that radio was no longer just a means of entertainment or propaganda. Radio could also provide the technical means to enable an isolated individual (General de Gaulle) to launch a huge resistance movement from outside his own country, to urge his fellow citizens to oppose foreign rule and subservience and to fight for the restoration of freedoms. The power and universality of this medium require no further proof. Joint inscription between France and the United Kingdom.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Jersey Occupation Archive

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Jersey Museum

The Channel Islands were the only part of Britain to be occupied by Hitler’s German forces during the Second World War. The Jersey Occupation archive includes the Occupation Registration Cards, which form a pictorial census of the Islanders who were occupied. Within the faces of the individuals who have been registered we see those who became local heroes such as Albert Bedane who hid a Jersey Jewish woman from the German Authorities and was honoured by the State of Israel as ‘Righteous Amongst the Nations’.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

London County Council Bomb Damage Maps

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2012

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

London Metropolitan Archives

An extraordinary set of maps indicating, building by building, bomb damage in London during the Second World War. This is the most detailed record of damage to the capital’s built environment caused by aerial bombardment. An iconic and multi-layered source for London’s experience of war and its aftermath, it conveys complex survey data in the tradition of Leake’s Great Fire map, Milne’s land use map, Mylne’s geological maps and Booth’s poverty maps. These printed maps were extensively annotated with the use of colour keys by the Architects Department of the London County Council to indicate, building by building, bomb damage during the Second World War. This is the most detailed record of damage to London’s built environment caused by aerial bombardment.

Used frequently by architects, surveyors, town planners and local and family historians seeking information on the precise degree of damage suffered by properties across the 117 square miles of the London Region 1940-1945, the maps are a symbol of Londoners’ resilience in adversity and highlight the enormous effort and forethought of the London County Council to serve London and Londoners in their ‘hour of need’.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

The Churchill Archives

INTERNATIONAL

NATIONAL

The collection is the personal archive of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), soldier, writer, politician, orator and statesman. The archive was assembled by Sir Winston during his long-life and career and comprises his personal, public, political and literary correspondence and papers, including his drafts and annotated notes for his celebrated speeches and broadcasts. The material consists of some one million items stored in two and a half thousand archival boxes.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2012 (UK)
2015 (INTERNATIONAL)

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Churchill College, University of Cambridge

The material consists of some one million items stored in two and a half thousand archival boxes. It is pre-eminent not just for its quantity but also for its quality, including correspondence with leading political, literary and social figures of the age, and papers about major events from the Boer War to the Cold War. It provides a window on the twentieth century from the perspective of a man who helped to shape it, and includes the originals for many of his enduring words and phrases.

DISCOVER
CHAPTER III

Film and Photography

The UK has long been a pioneer in film and photography and many of the inscriptions listed below demonstrate its leading role in this field, such as the innovative silent films of one of the world’s best-known filmmakers, Alfred Hitchcock. But what’s more, many of these sources capture everyday events and people in the UK. From the world’s largest surviving collection of Mitchell and Kenyon’s early non-fiction actuality films to Konttinen’s photographs of local communities grappling with post-industrial reality in the North East of England since the 1960s—all these inscriptions offer unique glimpses into the rich diversity of UK culture and history through the unique lens of the camera. Light! Camera! Action!

FILM ARCHIVE

Hitchcock’s Silent Films

NATIONAL

While Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most famous film directors of all time, his first ten silent films – nine of which survive – are little known compared to his later work. Made between 1925 and 1929, the silent films are among the greatest achievements of British silent cinema, and are blueprints for the rest of his body of work, containing many of his characteristic motifs and obsessions.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2012

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

BFI National Archive for BFI Southbank

The restoration of the ‘Hitchcock 9’ was the largest restoration project the BFI has ever undertaken. The BFI holds some of the most important and earliest surviving copies of the silent Hitchcock films, including negatives; and materials were also sourced from international archives. These restorations ensure that the works of one of Britain’s greatest artists can be appreciated on the big screen as they were meant to be seen.

DISCOVER
FILM ARCHIVE

Peter Worden Collection of Mitchell and Kenyon Films

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

BFI National Archive for BFI Southbank

The collection is recognised as the most exciting film discovery of recent times in Britain. This extraordinary actuality footage is a vivid and unparalleled social record of early 20th century British life – ordinary people in everyday situations. The geographical spread of the material encompasses Lancashire, Yorkshire, the Midlands, Scotland, Ireland, the North East, Bristol and North Wales.

DISCOVER
FILM ARCHIVE

Hepworth Cinema Interviews

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Library of Wales

In 1916 Cecil Hepworth, a pioneer of cinematography filmed well known persons ‘talking‘ to the camera and in this instance making personal statements about the War such as Lloyd George, and Herbert Asquith. It was the start of the media interview, now a staple of TV reporting. Held by the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.

DISCOVER
FILM AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s Photography and Amber’s Films

NATIONAL

Between 1969 and 2009, a period of immense social change in the North East of England, Konttinen and Amber Films created a series of works of remarkable quality and depth exploring a huge shift in popular culture. A heartland in the birth of the Industrial Revolution, the region has had to adjust rapidly to a post-industrial reality.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film and Photography

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Amber Film & Photography Collective

Konttinen and Amber’s work captures the experience from the epic locations of shipbuilding and coal to the forgotten drift mines and brickworks. Crucially the work captures it in the communities – from the terraced streets of Byker to the flawed and visionary Byker Wall Estate that replaced it; Travelling communities, fishing communities, mining communities; the texture of people’s lives; particular experiences that speak to the wider world.

DISCOVER

"To step ashore on St Kilda with him is to walk across the bridge. If you touch the hand of this old man, and he touches the wall of the house he was born in, you are back there"

ST KILDA’S, BRITAIN’S LONLIEST ISLAND – 1928

Seventy-five years ago, five-year-old Norman John Gillies left his native island for the last time after the death of his mother. The entire community of St Kilda left with him. Extract from The Last of the St Kildan’s

FILM ARCHIVE

Gpo Film Unit Collection

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

BFI National Archive for BFI Southbank

The pioneering GPO Film Unit represents the start of what is now widely regarded as the beginnings of the British Documentary Movement and the first self-conscious attempt to create a British national cinema. The unit lasted for just seven years yet its films set the trend for generations that followed and its impact spread the world over. Its iconic films have proved to have an ever-lasting popularity and appeal that hasn’t dwindled in over 75 years. The operation and uniqueness of the unit itself has become legendary for providing opportunity and apprenticeships for some of the twentieth century’s most distinctive technicians, artists, designers, poets, musicians and writers.

DISCOVER
FILM

St Kilda, Britain’s Loneliest Island

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Film

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

National Library of Scotland

The community continued to visit St Kilda in the summers following evacuation. The last visit took place in June 2005. Accompanied by the journalist Torcuil Crichton, a Gaelic speaker from the island of Lewis, Norman John Gillies, the five year-old who in 1930 had waved to this mother Mary as she sailed out of Village Bay to her death in a Glasgow hospital, returned to Hirta for the final time.

DISCOVER
CHAPTER IV

Colonial History

Between the 17th and 20th century, Britain built one of the most extensive empires in history, spreading its influence and power across the globe. The inscriptions below help us better understand this process through the lens of British commerce, warfare and diplomacy. But they also shine a crucial light on one of the period’s darker sides: slavery. A key player in the global slave trade, Britain transported an estimated 3.1 million enslaved Africans from the ports of Bristol, London and Liverpool to its colonies and other countries. Many of these inscriptions contain the only written sources available for this period which affected people all over the world. They therefore have a great international value.

ARCHIVE

The Golden Letter Of The Burmese King

INTERNATIONAL

In 1756 Myanmar king Alaungmintaya sent a diplomatic letter to King George II of Great Britain. This is not your run-of-the-mill, ink-on-paper dispatch. The message, in Myanmar language, was engraved on a rectangular plaque made of gold, with a line of 12 rubies embedded on each of two sides.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2015

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar & The British Library

The letter lay in the vaults of Hanover’s Leibniz library for 250 years, as nobody could read its contents. The letter, which took three years to decipher, relates to an offer of trading cooperation between Burma (current day Myanmar) and England. In October 2015, the Golden Letter was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, as a common heritage of Myanmar, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

This inscription is the common heritage of Myanmar, Germany and the UK.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Company of Scotland Trading to Africa & the Indies 1695-1707

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

NatWest Group Archives

What became the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies was the idea of William Paterson, a prolific ‘projector’ or promoter of speculative money-making schemes. He had been instrumental in the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694, but his new plan aimed to bring financial prosperity to Scotland, his homeland. He proposed that the Scottish Parliament, following the passing of “An Act for Incourageing Forraign Trade” in 1693, should grant a Scottish monopoly on trade with Africa and the Indies to a trading company, enabling it to harness the lucrative Far Eastern trade.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Registry of Slaves of the British Caribbean, 1817-1834

INTERNATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2009

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Archives

Enslaved Africans made up the great majority of transatlantic migrants who were forcibly removed to the Americas from Columbus’ first voyages in the fifteenth century until the nineteenth century. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade, originating in Africa and ending in the Caribbean and the Americas, remains a sensitive subject for several reasons, including issues of race, morality, ethics, identity, underdevelopment and reparations.

This inscription is the common heritage of Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, St Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago and the UK.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Silver Men: West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal

INTERNATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Archives

West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal: The documentary heritage concerning West Indians and their experience in and contribution to the Panama Canal represents one of the most significant movements of voluntary migration to emerge during the post emancipation period after 1838. These records document the movement of over 100,000 people to the Isthmus of Panama, the majority of whom never returned.

This inscription is the common heritage of Netherlands, Brazil, Ghana, Guyana, Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, the UK and the USA.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Dutch West India Company Archives

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Archives

The DWIC archives are primary resources for researching the history of the European expansion into West Africa and America. The records concern various themes such as commerce and slave trade, warfare, early modern diplomacy, plantation cultures and daily life issues. Moreover the DWIC archives contain information on the history of the regions where the DWIC founded colonies and trading posts. In many instances there is no other written information available for that period.

DISCOVER
CHAPTER V

Industry, Innovation and Science

From the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer to the production of the early steam locomotive and far-reaching advances in communication technology–the documents below show some of the key moments in the development of the industrial world. Many of these sources illustrate the role and impact of the Industrial Revolution that was sweeping over Britain and sparking revolutionary innovations, dramatic social change and pioneering discoveries in the 18th and 19th centuries. But some of these inscriptions also celebrate and document present efforts in the fields of industry, innovation and science, such as the challenges of living and working at British Antarctic research stations.

ARCHIVE

Tyne & Wear Shipyards Collection

NATIONAL

The shipbuilding collections deposited at Tyne & Wear Archives are the major source of information on the many shipyards in the North-East of England that helped to shape the unique identity of the region and made shipbuilding one of the key economic activities on Tyneside and Wearside. The industry also made a significant contribution to world maritime history.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2012

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Tyne & Wear Archives

The Tyne & Wear Archives Shipyards Collection is a testimony to the remarkable achievements in shipbuilding and engineering produced on Tyneside and Wearside over the past two hundred years. The rivers Tyne and Wear contributed massively to the history of the UK, world shipbuilding and marine engineering, with many innovations being developed here as well as countless fine ships being built.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Neath Abbey Iron Works

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

West Glamorgan Archive Service

Neath Abbey Ironworks in South Wales was in the forefront of development of beam engines for the South Wales coalfield and built one of the first railway locomotives in 1829. The collection includes 8,000 engineering drawings (1792-1882) and demonstrates the contribution of South Wales to Britain’s industrial revolution. Held by the West Yorkshire Archive Service.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Wedgwood Museum Archive

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The Wedgwood Museum

The collection is one of the most complete ceramic manufacturing archives in existence. Unparalleled in its diversity and breadth, the 80,000 plus documents embrace every imaginable subject from pot to people, transport to trade, society and social conditions.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Ledgers Of Edward Backwell

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

NatWest Group Archives

The ledgers of the goldsmith-banker Edward Backwell are uniquely significant in documenting the finances of Restoration England and the birth of modern banking. They provide the earliest detailed evidence of the scale and sophistication of England’s emerging banking system, and the role of the City of London as the leading centre for international trade and finance. Their pages also offer insights into the lives of thousands of individual clients, many of whom have their own historical significance.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

Isambard Kingdom Burnel’s Screw Propeller Report

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2020

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The SS Great Britain

The SS Great Britain was launched in Bristol in 1843, construction having begun in 1839. Described as ‘the greatest experiment since creation’ she was the largest ship in the world, and the first iron hulled screw propelled ocean-going steam ship. Amongst the many innovations brought together by her engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel the screw propeller was the most ground-breaking and represents a pivotal moment in world maritime history.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

The Crutchley Archive

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2020

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Southwark Archives

The Crutchley Archives is a rare and magnificent collection of books recording the skilled practice of wool dyeing of an eighteenth-century family dyeing business in Southwark, London. It is a fascinating, information-rich and visually-stunning legacy of the UK’s textile heritage with a unique family provenance, and its preservation is an outstanding record of textile dyeing history with international significance.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

James Watt Papers and the Seperate Condenser

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2020

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Birmingham Library

The James Watt Papers and specifically his work on the separate condenser contain a unique insight into the inspiration and development one of the most important scientific and technological advancements of the industrial revolution, a turning point in UK and world history.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENTS

Chepman And Myllar Prints

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Documents

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

National Library of Scotland

The ‘Chepman and Myllar Prints’ is a volume containing eleven pieces of printing – all known only from these copies – that include the earliest surviving dated book printed in Scotland: John Lydgate’s The Complaint of the Black Knight, completed by Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar in the Cowgate of Edinburgh on 4 April 1508. There are also eight other books from this same press, of which two, dated 8 April and 20 April, are the only other Scottish books dated 1508; a tenth book possibly printed by Myllar; and an eleventh book printed outside Scotland but sharing the early history of the volume.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

Royal Mail Archive

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The Postal Museum

The archive shows the development of the postal service and the impact it had on villages, towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom (and Ireland to 1922). For example, maps show how postal routes grew over time; the status of becoming a postal town had an economic impact, the records show how the postal town network grew.

From 1635 to the modern day The Royal Mail has dealt with essential aspects of everyday life, from broadcasting and communications to banking and employment. It documents the organisation’s unique history, from employment records to stamp artwork, and is one of the oldest business archives in the world. The collection covers everything from the impact of post on peoples’ lives, to an outstanding archive of stamp designs. Held by the British Postal Museum and Archive.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

BT Research Centre Collection

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archives

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

BT Archives

The BT research reports and memoranda document over a century of the achievements of British telecommunications engineers and scientists in pushing the boundaries of communications technology. Advances in thermionic valves, transistors, radio communications, television broadcasting and transmission, satellite technology, digital transmission, optical fibres, lasers, integrated circuits, video conferencing, videophones, research into early wideband/broadband technologies such as radio waveguide are only some of the subjects covered by the research reports and memoranda.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENTS

Robert Hooke’s Diary, 1672-1683

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Documents

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

City of London

The private diary of this major scientific figure. It covers all aspects of his life and scientific research, including experimenting with his own body, his relationships with other well-known individuals at that time, his work with Christopher Wren to rebuild London after the Great Fire and a detailed description of life in seventeenth century London. Held by London Metropolitan Archives.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENTS

Notebooks Of Michael Faraday

NATIONAL

Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is one of the most significant and famous scientific figures who ever lived and worked in the United Kingdom. His discoveries of electro-magnetic rotations and induction paved the way for engineering applications of electricity which fundamentally and permanently altered technological practice.

DISCOVER
LETTERS

Letter From George Stephenson

NATIONAL

This is a unique holograph letter written by George Stevenson to his son Robert. It was sent during the period of construction of the world’s first passenger railway between Liverpool and Manchester (1827).

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Robert Stephenson And Company Archives

NATIONAL

The archives of Robert Stephenson & Co. are the unique documentary record of how the United Kingdom gave railways to the world.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENTS

Civil Engineers Membership Certificates

INTERNATIONAL

The Institution of Civil Engineers is the world’s oldest professional engineering body. Its global membership has transformed the world since 1818.

DISCOVER
PHOTOGRAPHY

The British Antarctic Survey

NATIONAL

The series of base and field reports and photographs forms the backbone of the archive collections of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and its predecessors, the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (1945-62) and the Second World War expedition Operation Tabarin (1943-45). It is a unique and comprehensive account of these organisations’ activities, illustrating the United Kingdom’s leading role in the modern era of Antarctic scientific exploration from the establishment of the first United Kingdom Antarctic stations in 1944 to the end of the 20th Century.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Photography

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2018

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

British Antarctic Survey

The material contains ten thousand reports and approximately nineteen thousand photographs, covering all twenty of the UK’s Antarctic stations past and present. Data underpinning globally significant discoveries, such as the hole in the ozone layer, is included. So too are accounts of the challenges of living and working in an extreme environment, and of prolonged journeys into the field to research and map the unknown.

DISCOVER
CHAPTER VI

Literary Past

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ — William Shakespeare

The UK’s literary past is a rich seam of culture, people and history. From sources relating to some of the most well-known and influential British writers, to Welsh and Cornish literature, and the world’s largest collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts — the inscriptions below are unique windows into the literary past, making sure that voices remain heard and stories live on.

ARCHIVE

The Shakespeare Documents

NATIONAL

INTERNATIONAL

The ‘Shakespeare Documents’ are the key archive sources for understanding the life of the world’s most celebrated poet and playwright, William Shakespeare, b.1564, d.1616. These unique handwritten documents, dating from within Shakespeare’s lifetime, provide an evidential basis for understanding the narrative of his life.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014 (UK)

2017 (INTERNATIONAL)

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The Shakespeare Centre

The collection provides a priceless perspective on Shakespeare’s life in London. It shows him appearing as a resident in the Elizabethan city, with the documentary trail then charting his rise in fortune, both professional and financial, reaching the heady heights of success at the court of James I and ending with his famous will.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

The Cotton Collection of Manuscripts

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2018

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The British Library

Sir Robert Cotton (1571–1631) was a politician and antiquarian scholar, who began to assemble his collection of manuscripts as early as 1588, aged just seventeen. Cotton’s collecting interests focused on works central to the study of British history, such as chronicles, cartularies, maps and state papers.

The importance of these manuscripts for our knowledge of the past cannot be overstated. For example, Robert Cotton brought together the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in the world, including two early copies of Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum and five manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as well as the earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon charter, dating from AD 679. After Robert Cotton’s death, the library passed in turn to his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (d. 1662), and grandson, Sir John Cotton (d. 1702). In 1702, the Cotton library was acquired by the British government, the first occasion that any library passed into national ownership in Britain – an important step in the creation of a national, public library.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

Eton Choir Book

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Manuscript

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2018

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Eton College

The Eton Choirbook (Eton MS 178) is a volume of manuscript music created between 1500 and 1504 for use in religious services in Eton College Chapel. The large and handsome volume played an integral part in the worship of the chapel, resting open on a lectern whilst the choir stood around to sing its music. Most of the music is finely wrought settings of the Magnificat or of motets devoted to the Blessed Virgin, responding to the Marian cult as practised at Eton as a site of pilgrimage.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

Peniarth Manuscript Collection

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2016

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Library of Wales

The Peniarth Manuscript collection is the most important of the National Library of Wales’s manuscript collections, and the most important collection of manuscripts ever assembled in Wales. It consists of five hundred and sixty one works in Welsh, English, Latin, French and Cornish, dating from the 12th to the 19th century.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENTS

The Chronicle of Elis Grufudd, ‘Soldier of Calais’

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Documents

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2018

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Library of Wales

The Chronicle of Elis Gruffudd was written in Welsh, c. 1550-52, by a soldier and administrator serving in the English garrison at Calais. Ambitiously aiming to chronicle the history of the world from the Creation to his own time, Elis Gruffudd based the medieval part of his Chronicle partly on a unique body of traditional Welsh legendary matter, including the Taliesin and Myrddin legends.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

Manuscript Collection of Shota Rustaveli’s Poem “Knight in the Panther’s Skin”

INTERNATIONAL

Considered Georgia’s epic poem, Knight in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli dates from the late twelfth century when the country reached the peak of its medieval social, economic, cultural and political development. The masterpiece is remarkable for the striking harmony and beauty of its poetry and the elegance of its language which makes it complicated to render in any foreign language. Probably the greatest attempt to introduce the English speaking communities to the Knight in the Panther’s Skin was undertaken by Marjory Wardrop and her brother Oliver, who was the first Chief British Commissioner of Transcaucasus in the early twentieth century.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2013

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Bodleian Library

This collection consists of a mixture of Georgian, oriental and European cultural traditions created during major political, socio-economic and cultural changes throughout the Caucasian and Middle East regions. It provides unique information about the lifestyle, traditions and characterisations of different social groups in the Middle Ages from the royal family to merchants and peasants.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

The Carmichael Watson Collection: A Celtic Collector’s Folklore Odyssey

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

University of Edinburgh Library

The Carmichael Watson collection in Edinburgh University Library, centred on the voluminous papers of the pioneering folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912),is, in terms of extent, scope, quality, diversity, and detail, one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world. His field notes alone, comprising half a million words, are a treasure-trove offering unparalleled insights into an ancient, extraordinarily rich and diverse oral culture and collective memory now critically endangered as a result of the great historical transformations of the twentieth century.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

Early Gaelic Manuscripts of the Advocates Library

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2018

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Library of Scotland

A group of Gaelic manuscripts written or owned in the 14th-17th century, which were collected by the Advocates Library, and gifted to the Scottish nation to form part of the foundation collection of the National Library of Scotland in 1925. The collection is unparalleled in its scale and coverage, like no other it provides a key to understanding the culture, and cultural orientation, or a large part of Scottish society that informs our understanding of the history and identity of Britain as a whole.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

Historic Ethnographic Recordings, 1898 – 1951

INTERNATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The British Library

The Historic Ethnographic Recordings collection contains field recordings of orally transmitted cultures made throughout the world by linguists and musicologists. Some of these recordings represent the earliest sources for research into those cultures, and have captured in the most vivid format available at the time, unmediated by foreign textual interpretation, a linguistic and cultural diversity in a precious moment on the cusp of today’s ‘global village’. Not only were these recordings among the first of such to be made but also they may be the last: many of the languages and musical practices that feature in this collection are endangered or no longer exist.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENTS

Arthur Bernard Deacon, 1903-1927

INTERNATIONAL

The original drawings and notes of Arthur Bernard Deacon, during his visit to Malekula and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in 1926, recorded the language, customs and traditional tales of the people he studied, and illustrate the famous sand drawing tradition for which the islands are still renowned.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVES

Thomas Hardy Archive

NATIONAL

Thomas Hardy is a literary figure of international importance, both seminal and transitional. The universal themes of his writing include time, love, loss, nature, place and war.

DISCOVER
JOURNAL

Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journal

NATIONAL

Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere journal is a work of literature of international significance. It was also the inspiration for her brother William, one of the leading figures of British Romanticism.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

John Murray Archive

NATIONAL

This collection contains the business, literary and personal papers of the John Murray Publishing house, the eighteenth century Edinburgh publisher.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

George Orwell Archive

INTERNATIONAL

The Orwell Papers’ collection contains the personal archive of George Orwell (born Eric Blair, 1903-1950), political thinker, essayist, novelist, journalist and broadcaster. The famous British author of Animal Farm, an allegory of contemporary times, and Nineteen Eighty-Four, a fictional account of the dangerous potential of totalitarianism kept very few personal papers and even fewer manuscripts of his writings.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2017

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

University College London

His writings featured in the collection include the first jottings of some of the most well-known words and phrases from the Orwell canon, such as “Two Minutes Hate”, “Newspeak”, and the slogan “War is Peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery.”

DISCOVER
CHAPTER VII

State, Religion and Power

Historically, religion, power and politics have always been closely intertwined. The story of St Augustine, who came to England in 597 on the mission to convert the people to Christianity and who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, is a paramount example. Canterbury became the centre of spirituality and later the seat of the spiritual head of the Church of England. The inscriptions below testify to this influential relationship and illustrate how people in the past viewed themselves and place through time.

COLLECTION

The Roman Curse Tablets From Bath

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2014

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The Roman Baths

Personal and private prayers of 130 individuals inscribed on small sheets of lead or pewter, and cast into the hot spring at Bath, dating from the 2nd-4th century AD. They give an insight into the lives of ordinary people. One tablet is currently unique in that it is believed to be made up of Celtic words written in the Latin alphabet. Another curse tablet contains what is currently the earliest known reference to Christianity in Britain. Held by Bath and North East Somerset Council.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

Cura Pastoralis Of Gregory

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Manuscript

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Bodleian Library

King Alfred’s translation from the Latin of Gregory’s Pastoral Care is a manuscript book, dating from around 890 CE and is claimed to be the earliest surviving book written entirely in the English language.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

Canterbury Cathedral Collection

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Collection

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2016

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Canterbury Cathedral

The medieval archive of Canterbury Cathedral complements the Cathedral’s built heritage, which has gained recognition as of world importance, being part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The medieval archive dates from the 9th century to the 16th century and has been cared for by the Cathedral for the centuries since. The archive helps tell the story of the Cathedral, its monastery, its buildings, its work and its people, and the documents pre-date any of the Cathedral buildings visible today.

DISCOVER
MAP

Hereford Mappa Mundi

INTERNATIONAL

The Hereford Mappa Mundi is the only complete example of a large medieval world map intended for public display. It is very different to our modern understanding of a world map as it shows not only locations of places and geographic features but also acts as a visual encyclopaedia with historical, anthropological, ethnographical, biblical, classical and theological information.

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Map

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2007

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Hereford Cathedral

The map is pivotal in our understanding of medieval cartography and sense of place and still has relevance to all peoples in helping them to understand their sense of humanity and self.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

Dean & Chapter Exeter Library Manuscript

NATIONAL

The Exeter Book is an anthology of poetry in Old English, written down around 970 CE, and is one of only four surviving major poetic manuscripts in that vernacular. Since it is the largest and probably the oldest of them, and since its contents are not found in any other manuscript, it can claim to be the foundation volume of English literature – one of the world’s principal cultural artefacts.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

Winchester Pipe Rolls

NATIONAL

The Winchester Pipe Rolls are the most complete set of manorial accounts still surviving. Starting in 1208-9 CE they continue almost unbroken to 1710-11 CE, and record income and expenditure across the Bishop of Winchester’s estates in the most minute detail.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

Death Warrant Of King Charles I

NATIONAL

The warrant for the execution of King Charles I is the most significant constitutional document held by the Parliamentary Archives and is perhaps the most dramatic record relating to English history. The Death Warrant contains the signatures and seals of fifty of the commissioners who tried Charles I, including that of Oliver Cromwell.

DISCOVER
MAP

Pont Manuscript Maps

NATIONAL

The earliest surviving topographic and chorographic survey of Scotland, they provide a key insight into early modern Scotland. Some 20,000 Scottish place names can be located, the vast majority appearing on a map for the first time.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

Domesday Book

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2012

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

The National Archives

Domesday provides a unique snapshot of English society at a pivotal moment in its history. It is The National Archives’ earliest surviving public record and, perhaps, the most iconic. Commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085, it records in immense detail who held what land and rights in England and parts of Wales, both before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and after it.

DISCOVER
MAP

The Gough Map

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Map

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Bodleian Library

The Gough Map, one of the great medieval treasures of cartography, arrived at the Bodleian Library in 1809 as part of Richard Gough’s bequest, an eighteenth century antiquary and expert on British Topography. Richard Gough acquired it for half-a-crown on 20 May 1774 at the sale of the collection of Thomas Martin of Palgrave, where it was offered as Lot 405 and described as ‘a curious and most ancient map of Great Britain’. Dated approximately 1360, it is the earliest surviving map to show routes across Britain and to depict a recognisable coastline.

The map, measuring approximately (height) 553mm by (width) 1164mm, is drawn on the flesh-side of two pieces of sheepskin parchment, joined vertically. The lap-join was held together originally with a plain running-stitch, clearly identifiable by sewing-holes and thread-indentations along the join. Indeed, the thread interrupted the application of the green wash which represents the sea, indicating that the sewing was in place before the map was painted. The two parchments are now joined by adhesive only. The left-hand skin, seen in transmitted light, has the anatomical features of what appears to be the backbone and ribcage of a lamb.

DISCOVER
DOCUMENT

Charter Of King William I To The City Of London

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Document

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2010

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

City of London Archives

This charter is the oldest document in the archive of the City of London, one of the most important city archives in NorthWestern Europe. The Charter appears to be the earliest royal or imperial document which guarantees the collective rights of the inhabitants of any town.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Bank of Scotland Archive

NATIONAL

TYPE OF HERITAGE

Archive

DATE OF INSCRIPTION

2011

NOMINATING INSTITUTION

Lloyds Banking Group Archives

Founded by an Act of the old Scots Parliament, it was Scotland’s very first bank. Its early history was difficult, reflecting the turbulent economic conditions of the period. But its business and influence grew, and ‘the old Bank’ went on to become the pre-eminent institution of its kind in Scotland, a position it retained right up until the early years of the 21st century.

Bank of Scotland also pioneered some of the key banking services we take for granted today. In 1696, it issued its first banknotes and was the first bank in Europe to successfully issue a paper currency. The records of the Bank of Scotland 1695-2001 are a major documentary source for the economic and social history of Scotland since the late 17th century.

DISCOVER
MANUSCRIPT

Wakefield Court Rolls

NATIONAL

The Wakefield court rolls are an almost complete series of manorial rolls documenting the business of the manor of Wakefield from 1274 to the abolition of manorial jurisdiction in 1925.

DISCOVER
COLLECTION

The Honourable Irish Society

NATIONAL

A major survey, compiled in 1639 by a Commission instituted under the Great Seal by Charles I, the Book is a survey of all the estates in Derry managed by the City of London Corporation through the Irish Society and City of London livery companies.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Aberdeen Burgh Registers

NATIONAL

The first eight volumes of the Burgh Registers for Aberdeen between 1398 and 1509 represents the earliest and most complete body of surviving records of any Scottish town.

DISCOVER
ARCHIVE

Survey Of The Manors Of Crickhowell And Tretower

NATIONAL

The Survey of the Manors of Crickhowell and Tretower, created by Robert Johnson in 1587, was produced ostensibly as a tool for managing part of the estates of the Earl of Worcester, but also as a manifestation of the power of the landowner.

DISCOVER