The Launch of Preston Guild Rolls Online took place recently at the Lancashire Archive on Bow Lane in Preston. I popped down to have a look.

They tell me the Guild Rolls Online project is the first ever complete database of the 27 surviving Preston Guild Rolls from 1397 to 1992 and the first time all the names included in the rolls for the past 600 years are available to search. In addition, it is free.

Advertisements

As part of the launch day, talks were given by Alan ‘Mr Preston Guild’ Crosby on the Preston Guild over the years, Kathryn Rooke on the Guild Roll Transcription Project itself and Kathryn Newman on the importance of the personal side of Preston Guild memorabilia. Several volunteers who worked painstakingly on the project were on hand to chat about it.

There was a fascinating lecture by Dr. Mike Winstanley on the history of people’s pageants, including Preston children’s pageants of the past and discussing the growth in popularity of the local historical pageant through last century.

Mr Winstanley’s talk was knowledgeable and quite humorous at times. He reminded us that we witnessed a recent televised pageant involving historical events and children: The London Olympics opening ceremony.

Dr Winstanley was also very complimentary towards our friend Preston Digital Archive (PDA) in helping to supply many images for the talks. He mentioned Flickr as a great resource for Preston images.

Available to look at were many of the old Preston Guild scrolls together with Guild memorabilia and ephemera. Quite a lot of I had not seen before. It was worth attending just to see all these forgotten treasures.

They mentioned that they are always interesting in seeing and documenting old Preston Guild items so if you have anything of interest why not let them know.

The Lancashire Archive site can be found online.

Have you been down to see the Guild Roll? Let us know in the comments below