THE mysteries contained within a small and fragile scroll written well over a century ago are about to be unlocked.

The scroll has been part of the collection at the Green Howards Museum, in Richmond, North Yorkshire for many years.

It was brought back to Britain by a member of the regiment in the 19th Century, but was in fragments and very dirty when it was donated to the museum.

It is thought to carry instructions to a band of Dervish soldiers who were fighting the British in the Sudan, but because of its condition it has been impossible translate it.

But, thanks to a Heritage Lottery Grant, it has been professionally treated and is now clean and legible. The conservation work was carried out by Dr James Caverhill in his Darlington studio.

Trained in chemistry at Nottingham University, and in conservation of works of art and paper at Gateshead Technical College, he works for galleries and collections throughout the north of England.

His work on the scroll included preliminary cleaning with soft rubber applied with cotton wool, before using solvents to remove earlier attempts at repair made with adhesive tape, and several washes.

Before each stage, tests had to be made for stability of the paper and the pigments in the inks or colours.

The finished scroll is now safely mounted on Japanese tissue paper and will eventually be returned to display in the Green Howards Museum, where it will finally be translated.

Dr Caverhill has also been working on other paper items from the museum, including two early 19th Century waistcoat patterns, Crimean maps, officers’ commissions and sheet music covers.

Curator Lynda Powell said: “The condition of the Arabic scroll has caused concern for some time, so it is good that the grant has enabled us to have it and the other items conserved.

“We will now be able to establish properly what the scroll tells us – it’s very likely that the soldier who brought it home also had no idea.”