DivyanshCopthall And Knole
According to the records, trunks of items were sent from Copthall to Knole and vice versa. Moreover, the experts believe that the letter might have been sent along with the trunks or other items and might have fallen and settled in the floorboards and waited there for centuries before it was found.
The Third Letter
The letter that was found by Dan is the letter which is in the worst condition out of the three letters that were found. The letter is still waiting to be deciphered. Thanks to the work done by Jan Cutajar on the letter that some part of the letter that was found by Dan is readable but not the whole of it.
February 1622
The letter found by Dan says, “The XVIIIth of February 1622, [Received] by us the poore prisoners in [illegible] the [illegible] [from the] right honourable the Earle of Middlesex our worthy [illegible] [by the hands] of Mr Ayers the some of three Shillings [illegible] for our releefe & succour for which wee give [good] [illegible] for all our good benefactors. Richard Roger [illegible].”
Significance Of Find
Nathalie Cohen is one of the National Trust’s regional archaeologists and she said,” It is extremely rare to uncover letters dating back to the 17th century, let alone those that give us an insight into the management of the households of the wealthy, and the movement of items from one place to another.”
Further Statements
Nathalie further added, “Their good condition makes this a particularly exciting discovery. At Knole, our typical finds relate to the maintenance of the house such as wiring and nails or things visitors have dropped such as cigarette packets and ticket stubs.” Now the question is where are the letters residing now?
On Display
The letters are going to be displayed so that the public can view them in the visitor center at Knole. “These letters are significant as artifacts but also for the insights they give us into the correspondence of the early seventeenth century,” Nathalie said.