1902 Preston Guild Trades Procession, Fishergate.

An ancient document showing the name of every person who was placed on the Guild Rolls will be available online for the first time.

For 600 years the names of those with a right to trade were added, so now 22,000 names on the 27 surviving Guild rolls from 1397 to 1992.

Advertisements

The names have been made searchable on the web by a team of volunteers from the Lancashire Archives.

County councillor Mike Calvert, cabinet member for adult and community services, said: “This has been an incredible achievement and I congratulate everyone involved. These rolls have been at the heart of Preston Guild for the last 600 years and now for the first time all the names of those involved are available to search on a free database.

“Every proud Prestonian with a merchant, shopkeeper or tradesman in the family tree ought to be able to find them recorded there somewhere, possibly over several Guilds.”

An event to celebrate this achivement will be held at the Lancashire Archives on Saturday 28 July from 10am to 3pm. Tickets are free but need to be booked by calling Kathryn Newman on 01772 533 033.

The archive will go online at the Lancashire Archives from this Saturday.

What do you think about the work done by volunteers? Will you search the archive? Let us know in the comments below