Norfolk archive honoured by UNESCO

20 May 2011

The medieval records of The Great Hospital in Norwich, housed at the Norfolk Record Office, have been given the highest praise, by being awarded UN Status by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The archive of St Giles's Hospital (known as 'The Great Hospital'), founded in c. 1249, is said to have 'no rival anywhere in the country' and is labelled as the 'fullest and by far the most important set of British medieval hospital records to survive the English Reformation'.

The archive is one of only twenty in the UK to be awarded this status by UNESCO and joins ten others who were previously awarded the status.

Gaining this status means that the archive is listed on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register, an online catalogue created to help promote the UK's documentary heritage across the UK and the world.

The UK Register is available at www.unesco.org.uk/ukregister and is part of a UNESCO programme to support and raise awareness of archives.

“We were incredibly impressed by the diversity and richness of these nominations to the register,” said David Dawson, Chair of the UK Memory of the World Committee. “These are some of the UK's exceptional, but lesser-known documentary riches. By awarding them with the globally recognised UNESCO Memory of the World status we hope to elevate them to the world stage.”

The winners were chosen by the expert committee of the UK Memory of the World programme, following a nomination and review process.

These twenty items and collections will be recognised at a meeting of the programme's International Advisory Committee, convening in Manchester this week.

County Councillor Derrick Murphy, Leader of Norfolk County Council and Chairman of the Norfolk Records Committee, said:

“I am delighted and proud that the Norfolk Record Office has won this prestigious award.

“Professor Carole Rawcliffe's recent work on medieval hospitals has shown just how unique and important these records are. Most of England's 1,300 medieval hospitals were destroyed, with their records, at the Reformation, but the records of the Great Hospital - and the hospital itself - escaped destruction. This unique instance of a hospital and its records both surviving from the middle ages shows an unbroken continuity of purpose and documentation which is exceptionally rare in this country.

“The fortunate survival of these records provides evidence for a huge range of subjects, covering a wide spectrum of society over many centuries, including the very rich (as patrons), people of more modest means (as smaller donors), and the clients, both resident and non-resident, who were mainly the poor and infirm, the disabled, the homeless and the elderly. These records are also essential for the study of medieval attitudes towards piety, and the spiritual needs and wellbeing of an urban population in the middle ages.

“It is fitting that the exceptional archive of the Norwich Great Hospital should be honoured in this way and placed on the world stage”.

James Carswell, Cabinet Member for Culture, Customer Service, Communications and Adult Education at Norfolk County Council, said, “the Norfolk Record Office's 'Designated' collection has long been recognised as being of outstanding importance and I am delighted that a significant element of it has now gained further recognition by being awarded United Nations status. Inclusion in UNESCO's UK Memory of the World Register is an acknowledgement that this is the most important surviving archive of a British medieval hospital. The Great Hospital archive contains some outstandingly significant documents, such as the foundation charter of c.1249 and the 1256 will of the founder, Bishop Walter de Suffield, but it is the comprehensiveness of it as a whole, over many centuries, which really sets it apart and makes it such an important primary source”.

Air Commodore Kevin Pellatt, the Master of the Great Hospital, said, “The Trustees, staff and residents of the Great Hospital are delighted that our archive has been deemed of such importance that it has been included in the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register. The Great Hospital has a remarkable and unbroken history of providing care for frail and older people for over 760 years. The survival of the documentary evidence covering that period is unique and it is a great honour that the significance of this information has been recognised with this globally-recognised Memory of the World status”.

For political comment

Cultural Services:

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Cllr George Nobbs (Lab), 01603 611406