Fig. 1

Deeds: a title deed concerning the ownership of land in Enfield, Middlesex, signed and sealed 15th January 1499 (sample DL035, photograph courtesy of Dave Lee); b mortgage between Athelstan H. Highton Esq., Rev. Thomas Moulton and Sir Edmund Browne on property in Bolton, Lancashire, signed and sealed 3rd February 1927 (sample EB04, photograph by Sean Paul Doherty)