What is longer than the length of three football fields?
…is 200 years old?
…and made of animal skin?
It’s the Longest Act held by the Parliamentary Archives and it is coming to People’s History Museum (PHM) to mark its 200th birthday!
The Act’s real title is the Land Tax Commissioners Act 1821. If you were to unroll it completely it would be 348 metres long (about a quarter of a mile) and would take 10 minutes for you to walk from end to end and back again! It’s handwritten and made of 757 pieces of parchment (animal skin).
See the Act displayed outside Parliament for the first time in the museum’s Main Gallery One. Find out what makes the Act so special, why it is made of animal skin, what it tells us about Parliament 200 years ago, what the Land Tax was, and why such a big document was needed.
Suitable for all ages
Please note the museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.