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Significant Oliver Cromwell deed joins Huntingdon archive

Cromwell Museum/Simon Hill Oliver Cromwell portrait, smallerCromwell Museum/Simon Hill
Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon in 1599 and lived in present day Cambridgeshire until the Civil War in the 1640s

A "significant" signed document from Oliver Cromwell's early life has been added to a council's archive.

The 1627 Huntingdon property sale deed was bought by Cambridgeshire County Council for £5,000.

Historian Stuart Orme said Cromwell's pre-Civil War life was "relatively invisible" with little documentation.

In 1627, the future Lord Protector was struggling financially and socially and the following year he suffered his first mental health crisis, he said.

Cambridgeshire County Council 1627 deed signed by Oliver CromwellCambridgeshire County Council
If he had not proved an unexpectedly good soldier in his 40s, he would probably have lived out his life in obscurity

The council bought the deed from the administrators of a defunct law firm.

It confirms the Cromwell family no longer have rights over a property called Barns Closes.

Tom Sanderson, chair of the council's communities, social mobility and inclusion committee, said: "It is interesting for us not just because it's Cromwell but because early deeds can be used to build up knowledge of relationships in an area, to work out who knew whom."

Cambridgeshire County Council 1627 deed signed by Oliver CromwellCambridgeshire County Council
Cromwell's signature is the first of the three on the bottom right. The deed will be stored in the council's Huntingdon archive

Cromwell helped the Parliamentarian forces defeat Charles I during the Civil War, which resulted in the monarch being tried and beheaded, and he went on to become Lord Protector in the 1650s.

Mr Orme, who is curator of the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, said: "He did leave a vast quantity of paperwork - there are more writings and speeches by him than any other non-royal individual prior to the Victorian period.

"However, there's very little from his early life, which is why this is more significant."

Cromwell Museum Exterior Cromwell Museum, HuntingdonCromwell Museum
Cromwell attended Huntingdon grammar school between 1610 to 1616. It is now the Cromwell Museum
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Oliver Cromwell

  • Oliver Cromwell rose to prominence in the Civil Wars and played a major role in the trial and execution of Charles I
  • He was vilified for the campaign in Ireland in 1649, but the accusation there were massacres of civilians is unproven
  • He was the first commoner to become head of state in British history
  • As Lord Protector he permitted religious tolerance - although not for Catholics
  • He died peacefully in his bed at Whitehall in 1658

Source: The Cromwell Association

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Cromwell was financially on the slide in the 1620s as he sold off the rental properties he relied on for income to provide dowries for his six sisters.

By 1631, he was "reduced to being a tenant farmer in St Ives", said Mr Orme.

Inheriting property in Ely in 1636 restored his fortune and social status and by 1640 he was asked to stand as the MP for Cambridge.

The council hopes to put the deed on display in the museum at a future date.

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