A FORGOTTEN Magna Carta manuscript which could be worth up to £10 million (US$15.2 million) has been discovered in a Victorian scrapbook in a Kentish town’s archive in Britain.

    It has been hailed an important historical finding in the week. The four original copies were brought together for the 800th anniversary of the charter which established the principle of the rule of law.

    The parchment, discovered in Sandwich’s archive, was ripped and a third had been lost, but experts were able to establish it was issued by Edward I in 1300.

    Speaking from Paris, Professor Nicholas Vincent, of the University of East Anglia, who authenticated the document, said: “It is a fantastic discovery which comes in the week that the four other known versions were brought together at the Houses of Parliament.

    “It is a fantastic piece of news for Sandwich which puts it in a small category of towns and institutions that own a 1300 issue.”

    Archivist Dr Mark Bateson discovered the historical document at the Kent County Council history and library center in Maidstone.

    (SD-Agencies)