A SOLICITORS has donated a deed belonging to Oliver Cromwell which dates back to the 1600s to a dedicated archive.

Brignalls Balderston Warren (BBW) Solicitors acquired a bond dated 1627 and signed by the former head of state when it took on another firm in Baldock in the 1950s,

The document - which has been valued at �6,000 - remained there until the firm relocated to Letchworth GC earlier this year and decided to have it authenticated.

The company has permanently loaned the deed to Huntingdon Archive and handed it over yesterday (Tuesday) at the Cromwell Hotel in Stevenage, the former home of Cromwell’s secretary John Thurloe.

Huntingdon Archive confirmed the document was genuine as it holds another item also relating to land in Barne Close, Huntingdon. It will loan the deed to the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, where Cromwell was born, for study days and exhibitions.

Maurice Quieros, managing partner at BBW Solicitors in Broadway, Letchworth GC, said: “I know it is often perceived that solicitors are just commercial businesses and where profit comes first but it is the policy of the partners of BBW to give back to the community. “This is an important and valuable document that can be of use to students and historians and therefore should by available through the Huntingdon Archive to as many as possible rather then financially benefitting a few local solicitors. It is for that important reason that the document has been loaned.”