Magna Carta, Runnymede and all that ~ February 2026

Mike Page, County Archivist at Surrey History Centre, gave an illustrated talk exploring the background to the Magna Carta, what  happened afterwards and the later histories of the great charter and where it took place.

The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 at Runnymede, by the side of the Thames at Egham, close to Chertsey.

We heard about the of state the country in the years before Magna Carta,  campaigns to re-cover lands in France previously governed by the English King, how the barons threatened to topple King John from power, and how the rights of individuals were written into the new charter ... and remain central to human rights in the UK and many countries today;

‘No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land’ (Magna Carta, clause 39)

Magna Carta was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus a 'Good Thing' for everyone, though the common people did not really benefit.

Magna Carta was also central to the US Constitution signed in 1787.