Council buys 400-year-old records of town

Long sought-after records dating back more than 400 years have been purchased by a council.

Northumberland County Council bought 10 volumes of records from the Company of Merchants and Tailors of Morpeth, dating from 1608 to 1920, at an auction.

The handwritten documents detail the history of one of seven trade guilds which historically operated in Morpeth.

The guilds were "kind of the forerunners of the council [in the region]", said the local authority's head of archives Sue Wood.

The guilds represented the old industries that used to dominate towns around the country, said Ms Wood.

Morpeth's groups included those which represented butchers, weavers and tanners.

The male-only bodies were major sources of power as they regulated trade and for a time its members were the only ones allowed to vote in parliamentary elections alongside wealthy people.

Ms Wood said the local authority had long had complete records for four of the guilds which operated in Morpeth.

But they had no records for the town's merchants' and tailors' guild.

"Then a member of the public contacted me and told me they were up for sale at an auction house in Newcastle," she said.

Helped by a grant from the group Friends of the Nations' Libraries, the council was able to buy the records in November for about £1,800.

The records tell "some of the story of the development of Morpeth", Ms Wood said.

For example, it details the way money was raised in the early 19th Century to help build Telford Bridge.

The council is still looking for more records for the remaining two guilds in Morpeth.

Ms Wood said the council had some records for the armourers' guild, though they were not complete.

It had none whatsoever for the shoemakers' guild, she said.

"My guess would be that they are in the private collection of the descendant of a guild member," she said.

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