A priceless antiquity belonging to Lincoln Cathedral has been given Memory of the World status by the UN,

The Magna Carta, one of only four original copies from around 1215, was given the award in recognition of it's "outstanding universal value".

And that could mean that funding for a new Magna Carta exhibition space due to be built at Lincoln Castle could be far easier to come by.

Roy Bentham, the Cathedral's chief executive said he thought the new status would provide "a real boost" when it came to grant applications.

"Only the 1215 copies have been added to the register," he said.

"And of those the Lincoln one is the only one that's able to travel.

"We hope that our new major gallery will be open in 2015, but in the meantime what the council have done is upgrade the existing exhibition.

"It's got the ability to take Lincoln to the rest of the world – it's just returned from a fantastic exhibition at the Ronald Regan library in California where it was seen by 170,000 people – as well as bring people to the city."

The honour is equivalent to a building being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

David Dawson, chair of the UK Memory of the World Committee, said: "The four surviving copies of 1215 Magna Carta are a unique testament to the world's rich documentary heritage.

"It is exactly these types of documents that the Memory of the World Register seeks to help preserve and promote access to."

For more on the Memory of the World status, see Saturday's Echo.