Magna Carta facsimile shown at Guildford Cathedral

A Magna Carta facsimile is on loan from Salisbury Cathedral

A facsimile of Magna Carta has gone on display at Guildford Cathedral in Surrey a week ahead of the document's 800th anniversary.

The facsimile, along with a replica seal, is on loan from Salisbury Cathedral as part of the celebrations and will be on display for two months.

Several Magna Carta lectures are also being held at the cathedral.

They will look at research into Magna Carta and the significance of the deal struck at Runnymede in 1215.

Magna Carta outlined basic rights under the principle that nobody, including the King, was above the law.

Curator of the treasury at Guildford Cathedral, Roger Heath-Bullock, said 13 facsimiles were made of Salisbury's Magna Carta some years ago, using special cotton-based parchment from the US.

"They reproduced the curves and irregularities of the parchment. It's not just a photocopy," Mr Heath-Bullock said.

"It's as near as you can get to the real thing. Side by side you can't tell the difference."

The original Salisbury Magna Carta was this year put on display alongside with three other surviving Magna Cartas from 1215.