BlankI know that many of you probably have interests in Wiltshire as well as Dorset, not least because the two counties border each other. Here is a snippet that I found in this week's Blackmore Vale Magazine, copied word for word: >>>A signed letter from Queen Elizabeth the First is one of the star attractions in a new exhibition highlighting recent acquisitions by the Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office. The letter-signed with the famous 'Elizabeth R' signature-summons Edward Seymour, a prominent Wiltshire and Devon aristocrat, to a meeting about Elizabeth's cousin, Mary Queen of Scots. The meeting took place at Nottingham Castle in 1562, and archivists believe it was to discuss the proposed marriage of Mary Queen of Scots, possibly into the Spanish Royal family. Mary and King Philip of Spain were both Catholics and Spain was the most powerful country in Europe at the time, so a royal marriage would have posed a grave threat to Elizabeth as a Protestant monarch. Mary-who had a rival claim to the English throne and was seen as a Catholic figurehead-was eventually deemed to be too great a danger to Elizabeth's reign. After being implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth, Mary was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in February 1587. The exhibition of recent acquisitions runs until August at the Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office in Trowbridge. The letter was recently deposited with the office by Edward Seymour's descendant, the present Duke of Somerset. One of the exhibits on display was discovered during work on the Wiltshire Wills Project. The document records the expenses of Thomas RANDALL-who may have been a local landowner or businessman-for providing accommodation for Parliamentarian troops during the Civil War. The document, which dates from 1645, records expenses for providing quarters for troops at Fisherton Anger, Salisbury and for contributing to the garrison at Longford Castle, Britford, also near Salisbury. Archivists were delighted to make the discovery, as it is rare for such records to have survived from the Civil War period. The details of the expenses were written on the back of a probate inventory (a list valuing the goods and belongings of a deceased person) from 1626.<<< Perhaps someone subscribed to the Wiltshire List ( I am not) would care to pass this on? CaroleED, East Knoyle, Near Shaftesbury in Dorset. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.483 / Virus Database: 279 - Release Date: 19/05/2003