THE Vale of Evesham Historical Society has acquired a valuable new addition for the Almonry Museum and Heritage Centre.

The document from the last Abbot of Evesham Abbey went under the hammer at Christie's in London last week and was expected to fetch between £1,000 and £1,500.

But Gerald and Helen Heath, who went to the sale on behalf of the society, had to bid £3,000 to make sure it ended up in Evesham.

"It is a very important item for Evesham," Mrs Heath said. "It is a much bigger thing to us than the £10 note and I would rate it equally as important as the Saxon find we were able to buy at auction a few years ago."

Michael Rowe, manager at the Almonry, was equally excited. "It is a massive acquisition, small enough to display and I hope we shall have it on show very soon."

The lot was described in the sale catalogue as a document on vellum, charter of Philip, last Abbot of the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin of Evesham, and the Convent in the same place, 20 November 1539, granting to Thomas Cromwell as lord of the manor of Oversley the annuity of £4 previously received by the abbots of Evesham for the lands in Oversley and Wykleford as well as the lands held by the abbots in the manor of Oversley for the use of Evesham's cell at Alcester, together with the Abbey's tithes and all other rights in Oversley.

Measuring 275 x 365mm diameter, with some light soiling, seal of the Abbot of Evesham, approximately 85mm in diameter, showing, within an architectural setting, the abbot presenting the abbey to the Virgin and Child, with the presentation of the royal charter below, pendant on vellum tag, framed and glazed.

There is also an annotation to the upper margin by William Hamper recording the gift of the charter by Sir Charles Throckmorton, 13 December 1827.

Philip Hawford succeeded to the abbacy of Evesham in 1539 after the resignation of his predecessor, supposedly under pressure from Cromwell after his refusal to give up the abbey, and in the same year surrendered the abbey to the King, being rewarded with a pension of £240 and the deanery of Worcester. Dugdale gives the Abbey's revenues as £1183. The destruction of its magnificent buildings began immediately.