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Pic: Sworders/BNPS

A rare Tudor manuscript designed to help wealthy landowners with swan-keeping has sold for a whopping £70,200.

The mute swan has been deemed a royal bird since the Middle Ages and only the monarch could grant someone the privilege of owning swans in Tudor times.

The birds were a favourite delicacy for the banqueting table and had to be marked and pinioned to prevent any disputes over ownership and this was an early record of swan ownership.

The unusual book had an estimate of £8-16,000 but sold for more than four times that at auctioneers Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet.