A PRISON door, a skull and a Jack the Ripper medal are just some of the items featured in an auction to be held in August. The cell door came from Shepton Mallet jail, the oldest prison in the UK. During World War Two, the remote Somerset building was ho

A PRISON door, a skull and a Jack the Ripper medal are just some of the items featured in an auction to be held in August.

The cell door came from Shepton Mallet jail, the oldest prison in the UK. During World War Two, the remote Somerset building was home not to criminals but the nation's treasures, after the site was commandeered by the British and American military. Among the items stored in the prison were the crown jewels, the Domesday Book, and the logs from Nelson's HMS Victory, to protect them from the London Blitz.

Avid collector Jude Mason, who owns the door, also bought the skull from an auction some time ago. She has no idea of its provenance. "I would like to say it belonged to William Shakespeare but alas I do not know him," she told the Ely Standard. "As far as I know it was used in the medical profession."

Auctioneer David Palmer is particularly keen on his Jack the Ripper medal, a Queen's Jubilee award won by Inspector JR Spratling, one of the police officers charged with the hunt for the elusive killer.

nPart of Ely Cathedral will be auctioned, also by Mr Palmer, for TV antiques series Cash in the Attic, on July 25 at the Arkenstall Centre, Haddenham.

Photo: HELEN DRAKE. 4949HD0708

Pic cap: Auctioneer David Palmer with part of the cell door.