SALISBURY has hit the world headlines again after what police believe was an attempted theft of the historic Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral.

It is worth returning to 1965 which marked the 750th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta by King John at Runnymede and an event that was commemorated in Salisbury Cathedral. The Dean of Salisbury invited Professor Charles Duggan of London University to deliver a lecture on ‘Constitutional Aspects of Magna Carta’ and those present included the Bishop of Salisbury, the Earl of Pembroke, members of Parliament and the mayors of Salisbury and Wilton.

The Sarum Magna Carta, which measures 14 inches by 17 inches was then put on display in the Cathedral Library every weekday for two months between 11am and 4.30pm.

Of the three remaining legible originals, the Sarum Magna Carta is probably in the finest state of preservation. It was in the cathedral, first at Old Sarum and then in the present building, without a break from 1215 until 1940, when it was stored in a government repository after Hitler’s threats to bomb the English cathedral cities. Although the exact location of the repository was not named, it was said that the Charter has at no time left Wiltshire since it was delivered by messenger in 1215.

To coincide with the 750th anniversary in 1965, a booklet was written by Dr Elsie Smith, Hon Librarian of Salisbury Cathedral. This highlighted the background to the great Charter of English liberties whilst explaining how the Sarum original came to be here.

One of the clauses in the Charter guaranteeing freedom reads:

Clause 39 – No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or have his rights and possessions taken from him, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed; nor will we go upon him, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land.