A RELIC of a gruesome murder more than two centuries in Warrington's past has been voted one of the most important archives in the region.

The 1791 wanted poster, housed at Warrington Library, advertises a £240 reward (around £17,000 in today's money) and contains details of the gruesome murder of a 24-year-old post boy.

The poster is one of 30 items included in the North West Archives Festival and recounts the story of the murder of James Hogworth who was tied up, stabbed and thrown into a brook as he made his way from Warrington to Manchester.

It was then displayed by the post office, contributing to the arrest and hanging of Edward Miles - whose body was left for days to rot in a human-shaped metal frame at Woolston to serve as a warning to others, and this is now in Warrington Museum.

Hilary Chambers, archivist at the library, said the poster gives a fascinating insight into local life.

"It doesn't just give us a comment on crime and punishment, it also provides vivid descriptions of the suspects and gives us the equivalent of 200-year-old Crimewatch photofits," she said.

"There is so much that we could have put forward for the North West Archival Treasury but we settled on two other items - the rules and regulations of the Warrington Workhouse in 1820 and an interesting public health notice which was produced as the result of a cholera epidemic in 1831."