Edwarde Potter’s Booke of Phisicke and Chyrurgery is a manuscript dating back to the early seventeenth century, with a later manuscript from the eighteenth century bound into it. Transcription is now complete, and our most recent version of the glossary is also available here.
In 2016 Newcastle Antiquaries received £6,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting project, Unlocking the Archives, to bring some of the social history of Tyne and Wear to a wider public.
The papers of the Northumberland Flood Relief Committee after the great flood of 1771 are already on the Antiquaries’ website, all transcribed by volunteers. The documents now added are the County Durham Flood Committee’s final report, a set of papers and drawings concerning the disputes over the collapse of the second Hexham Bridge in 1782, and a volume of Hexhamshire Wills dating from the 1700s.
Northumberland Archives provided digital copies for a dedicated website. Explore Lifelong Learning programme, in conjunction with Durham Record Office, ran two courses in palaeography (understanding and interpreting old documents), open to any member of the public, to train transcribers. A team of around 20 people was involved in transcribing the documents, and when each page was completed it was being added to the website. Time Bandits, a group of historical interpreters and re-enactors, provided workshops in schools, and a small exhibition.
With many thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their support, and to National Lottery players, thanks to whom volunteers will gain valuable skills and the opportunity to get right to the heart of our region’s heritage.
