Team capture unique record of English Civil War

25 Oct 2010 - A team from The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library are capturing a unique record of a turbulent period in British history kept at Cheshire's historic Tatton Hall this week. Using cutting edge camera technology, the team are photographing the diary of Nehemiah Wallington which contained passages on his attitudes to life, religion, the civil war and the witchcraft trials of the period. The latest project by the John Rylands' Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care (CHIC) team funded by JISC, the team are also capturing four volumes of manuscripts containing the music of Purcell. The public are able to see the photographers in action until 29 October, as they work from a room at the historic mansion owned by the National Trust and financed and administered by Cheshire East Council. Nehemiah Wallington was an ordinary working man who lived from 1598 to1658 during a period where plague, fire and religious oppression were constant threats. An eloquent and well-read writer, Wallington filled 50 notebooks in which he documented his own philosophies on life. One of the handwritten notebooks, kept at Tatton, is the only copy known in existence.