Maps, Plans, Travel and Adventure

On Thursday 25th May, we had an evening of archive adventure at the Record Office, for visitors to see behind the scenes and glimpse some of the wonderful and unique archival history within our collections.

Although the in-person event was for one evening only, through the following web pages, we’ll capture the essence of the event and bring you the associated words and images that formed the displays.

We will take you on the Grand Tour to 18th-century Italy, adventure through the Arctic with Thomas Blanky, enjoy the heyday of Harrogate’s Victorian spa, explore the British in India, and global trade to the North Yorkshire coast.

Closer to home, we’ll be travelling Yorkshire’s highways by coach and horses, guided by early road maps and some of the first leisure guides produced. All this via a stunning collection of maps and plans.

This year, we were also joined by very special guests. Craven Museum and Gallery transported us to Elbolton cave in the Yorkshire Dales with Neolithic archaeology & artefacts. We learnt about the strategic importance of the map in military history from experts from The Green Howards Museum and travelled along the tracks with the Wensleydale Railway, with a chance to see original documents and artefacts and meeting some of the railway workers.

Follow the links below to view each of the display themes:

• The golden days of coach travel
• Tourism and pocket maps
• The development of North Yorkshire’s road network
• Maps and plans, why they were created?
• The history of Elbolton Cave near Grassington
• Whitby, Arctic navigation and the archives
• Whitby Arctic voyagers
• The East India Company
• British merchants in the Mughal Empire
• The British Raj
• Global trade on the North Yorkshire coast
• History of the Royal Pump Room Museum, Harrogate
• Welcome to the railways of North Yorkshire!
• The Lure of Antiquity: 200 years of travel to Italy