In this first of a two-part series, using contemporary journal extracts, we follow Joshua Samuel Crompton and his travel companion William Blane on their journey down the east coast of Sicily in February 1825. Their ultimate destination was Malta, but en route they visited the ancient Greek and Roman sites of Catania and Taormina.… Read More Joshua Crompton’s travels through Sicily, 1825 – Part 1: Naples to Catania
Descriptions of the weather can be found in a wide variety of records held in the Record Office collections. In this blog, you can see examples from the past 350 years, ranging from impromptu remarks made in early diaries, travel journals and parish registers, through to the methodical, late-19th-century daily observations of lighthouse keepers and a 1920s sunshine recorder.… Read More Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not…
This post explores the creation of Select Vestries using minute books from the parishes of Sinnington and Marrick to give examples of their work in relation to poor relief.… Read More Sinnington and Marrick vestry minutes
An early-19th-century account book from the records of the Stapylton family of Myton Hall provides a fascinating insight into household expenditure from 1807-1814. In this blog, you can read about the types of payments that were being made for the running of the garden and stables, for food items such as fish and cheese, and other assorted purchases such as shaving soap, tobacco and hair cuts, as well as more unusual items including four goldfinches.… Read More Stapylton of Myton records: estate account books and rentals
The collection of records for the parish of Topcliffe is a particularly extensive and varied one. Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials exist from 1570 onwards for the church of St Columba. This blog features many of the other types of records you might hope to find for a parish, which survive for Topcliffe but, in many cases, do not survive for parishes elsewhere. … Read More Topcliffe Parish Records
Estate records within our collections often contain fascinating details about the lives of family members, who travelled and worked overseas. In this blog, we take a look at the papers of Lawrence Dundas, which shed light on travels and his career in India between 1917 and 1940. … Read More The papers of Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
Fragments of medieval music manuscripts have been found reused as the covers or linings of later books held in parish and estate collections here at the County Record Office. In this blog, you can find out more about the manuscripts themselves and the different types of notation and rubrics upon them.… Read More Medieval music: examples of manuscript fragments from our collections
Read the story of artist John Jackson R.A., told through a series of surviving letters written to his family, and see some of his early sketches. Born in the North Yorkshire village of Lastingham in 1778, originally intended to become a tailor, his talent was noticed by the Earl of Mulgrave. He went on to become a a successful portrait painter and skilful copyist.… Read More Letters of John Jackson R.A.
An interesting collection of records is held by the Record Office, which gives some idea of what life was like in Harrogate during the Second World War for an ordinary family… Read More Wartime Harrogate
North Riding Quarter Sessions and other records help to shed light on the interesting tale of George Sanger, vicar of Carlton in Cleveland, accused of burning down the church in 1881.… Read More The case of the fire at St Botolph’s church, Carlton-in-Cleveland in 1881
North Yorkshire Archives Blog 