A bid has been launched to save historic documents, including a letter written by Oliver Cromwell, which are being put at risk by the warm wet weather in Shropshire.

Historical experts say that thousands of pounds need to be spent to carry out an upgrade of the air conditioning at Oswestry’s Guildhall where the archives, which date back hundreds of years, are kept.

Archivist Helen Haynes said the humidity and temperature in the strongrooms were causing grave concern.

Now she is urging town councillors to consider changing the air conditioning at the strongrooms in a bid to protect the priceless documents.

The town council, which looks after the archives will meet tomorrow to consider a report on how to deal with the humidity.

Mrs Haynes says in a report that since the middle of June the air conditioning in one of the archive rooms has failed to keep humidity below the figure above which mould growth is a risk.

In the archive’s newspaper room, already recognised as not ideal for storage, the temperature has also been too warm and humid.

“I have done extensive tests and monitoring of the temperature and humidity in all three strongrooms as all have been adversely affected by the very warm and wet conditions we have been experiencing,” she said. “It has been causing grave concern.”

The archives can be accessed by members of the public, who can make inquiries of the archivist by post, e-mail or phone and arrange to see documents.

The town council began establishing  the Oswestry Archives in the mid-1980s. Then the mass of historical documents and photographs were lying rotting and uncared for in the basement of the Guildhall.

Since then the archives have been protected, with help from funding from the town council and the National Lottery, and in the past have been praised as being among the best looked after in Britain.

The first document dates from 1324, when the Earl of Arundel granted two shops in Leg Street to the Burgesses of Oswestry.

And one of the most interesting is the letter written by Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, dated July 13, 1657. It recommends that a Montgomeryshire man become Oswestry’s new schoolmaster.

By Sue Austin