After a dogged campaign by our Chair, Hugh Wood, there is now a new display in Ludlow Museum featuring three objects with strong Mortimer connections. The artefacts include two found in Wigmore. The first is a 14th century horse trapping showing the Mortimer coat of arms. This is specially significant as the central escutcheon has been ‘differenced’ by three red bars, showing that the horse didn’t belong to the head of the family, but to a close family member. Also in the cabinet is a lead bulla, or seal, which would have been attached to a document from the pope – a papal bull. It was found near Wigmore Abbey which was founded by the Mortimers in 1179. The exciting thing about this find is that it dates from the reign of pope Lucius III (1181-1185), so it must have arrived at Wigmore within five years, or so, of the abbey’s foundation. The third artefact is a floor tile bearing the Mortimer coat of arms. This was discovered at St Peter’s chapel in Ludlow castle. Roger Mortimer, 1st earl of March built the chapel in thanksgiving for his escape from the Tower of London on 1st August 1323 – 700 years ago this year – the feast of St Peter ad Vincula.

The upgrading of this ‘Mortimer’ cabinet called for close co-operation between MHS, Ludlow Town Council, who own the museum, and the Shropshire Museum Service. We agreed to finance the upgrade, and received welcome contributions from the Friends of Ludlow Museum and the Ludlow Town Centre Guides. About 35 people attended the celebratory ‘opening’ of the new display, most of them being local MHS members.

The Mortimer History Society has acquired the Account Roll for the Honour of Wigmore for the year 1387 to 1388. The document, which has previously been in private hands, will soon be made available for study and view by academics, historians and members of the public at the Herefordshire Archives and Records Centre (HRAC). The Roll was acquired in a fiercely contested auction for £2,100, following a last-minute fundraising campaign among Mortimer History Society members, and thanks to a generous donation for the HRAC.

The Roll is a detailed account of money owed and paid to the ruling Mortimer family from their tenants in the Honour of Wigmore during a single year from September 1387 to September 1378 and has the potential to reveal important information about the state of Wigmore society at that time and the relationship between its lords and people. The Mortimers, who were the lords of Wigmore from the 11th to the 15th century, were one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, with close connections to the Crown. Indeed, a Mortimer heir became King Edward IV in 1461.

In the year 1387 to 1388 Wigmore was held by royal keepers on behalf of Roger Mortimer, 4th earl of March, a grandson of King Edward III, who acquired the title from his father, Edmund the 3rd earl in 1381, at the age of six. He went on to serve King Richard II as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and died there in a skirmish in July 1398, aged 24.

“Documents of this kind are extremely rare, and few survive for Wigmore,” says Paul Dryburgh, President of the Mortimer History Society and Principal Record Specialist at The National Archives. “Our Medieval Documents Group will now transcribe and translate the Roll before depositing it with HARC, where it will be safely stored and made available to view. Academic interest in the Mortimer family and its role in both national and regional politics is growing, and this document is a significant addition to our knowledge about the system that fuelled Mortimer wealth and prestige.”

Before being deposited with HARC, the Roll will be displayed at the next Mortimer History Society Conference, which will be held at Holy Trinity Church, Hereford on Saturday 3 December. A translation of its contents – and the story of its finding – will be published in the January edition of the Society’s magazine, Mortimer Matters.

This recovery of the Roll is part of a programme of activity the Mortimer History Society is engaged in to raise awareness of the importance of Wigmore as the seat of Mortimer power, which will include working in partnership with English Heritage to restore access to Wigmore Castle’s ruined keep and the creation of a reconstruction drawing of Wigmore Castle in its heyday.