Borough Archives

Priceless paper - or scrap?

These images provide a sample of the items put on display in Valence House during Archive Awareness Month, September 2003.

The exhibition showed the many different formats in which archives can be created - parchment, paper, leather (for bindings), magnetic and electronic formats - and illustrated how the style of handwriting changed over the centuries.

17th Century

Both these 17th century documents were written on parchment. Parchment is the scraped and cured skin of sheep or cows and has been used for centuries to record important matters, such as these property transactions, because it is almost indestructible.

The open deed, dated 1656, concerns the sale of marshland and reedshore in Ripple Level by Sir Thomas Fanshawe of Jenkins to Sir Thomas Allen of Finchley for £3,904. This sum reflected the value of the fertile marshland and the fact that it could be rented out at a good fee.

The second deed (folded), 1669, records a transaction between members of the Allen family about the same parcel of land.

The 6 people involved have all signed and sealed the document at the bottom. Note how the lumps of sealing wax have been chipped over the centuries; one seal has been completely lost.