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New exhibition!

Treasures from the Parish Chest: exploring North Yorkshire’s church history from archives to architecture

Discover parish church history through 500 years of archives from Record Office collections, alongside a selection of modern photographs by Sophie Cawthorne.

From the Record Office collections, see a contract for the building of Catterick, St Anne’s dating back to 1412, and learn how parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials changed between 1538 and 1813. Discover how the church took care of the poor and why it was responsible for maintaining the roads. Find out why, in the 19th century, many churches were restored and rebuilt and see designs by Victorian architects.

From the Anglo-Saxon minster of Kirkdale, St Gregory to the 20th century murals at Helmsley, All Saints, Sophie (@churchoftheday on Instagram) illustrates over a thousand years of the heritage, architecture and artistry of a selection of North Yorkshire churches through her words, photographs and a short video.

Explore all this & more in the online exhibition guide!

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Thursday evening, 23^rd May 2024, 6.00pm-8.30pm

Our annual Archives at Dusk evening is a rare and exciting chance to see behind the scenes at the Record Office and glimpse some of the wonderful and unique archival history on your doorstep.

This year, our theme will be ‘Vice and Virtue’ with displays throughout the building using material from our archive collections to explore expressions of faith through a variety of Anglican, Methodist and Quaker records, as well as acts of murder and wrongdoing through the North Riding Quarter Sessions, coroners, police and workhouse archives. Come and find out about these fascinating aspects of North Yorkshire’s past!

The evening will also feature special guests, including Professor Kate Giles from the University of York, who will talk about how parish records for Pickering can be used in conjunction with other historic sources, and the late medieval wall paintings at Pickering church.

Cristiane Kroebel, Curator for Abbey Collection, Whitby Museum will talk about Saint Hilda and a case of medieval adultery in Egton, 1357, while archivist Vicky Grindrod from the West Yorkshire Archive Service will bring documents about Fountains Abbey and explain their relevance to the National Trust’s Skell Valley project in Ripon and surrounding area.

There will also be the opportunity to look at arts and crafts in churches, and take part in glass engraving with Sandra Snaddon, whose work can be found in Masham church.

We’ll also be joined for the evening by Sophie Cawthorne (@churchoftheday on Instagram), who has collaborated with us on our ‘Treasures from the Parish Chest’ exhibition, and will also be giving the lunchtime lecture for us on Friday 24^th May on ‘Archives and Altars: exploring North Yorkshire’s parish church heritage’.

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Record Office Friday lunchtime lectures are back!

In association with Northallerton and District Local History Society

Talks begin at 12.30pm and last around 45 minutes, followed by a discussion 

Venue: North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton, DL7 8TB 

Entry fee: £2 including light refreshments 

Advance booking not necessary 

2024 programme:

January 26^th  The building of Sion Hill, near Thirsk: a late Edwardian country house by Gail Falkingham

February 23^rd  Working-class lives in Edwardian Harrogate by Paul Jennings

(March 29^th  Good Friday – no talk)

Please note change to previously advertised April talk:

April 26^th  The Knights Templar at Westerdale by Carol Wilson

May 24^th   Archives and Altars: exploring North Yorkshire’s parish church heritage by Sophie Cawthorne

June 28^th   Ingleby Greenhow Manor: its families through time by Geoff Taylor

July 5th   Afternoon talk and play, 2-4pm, in association with Alice Thornton’s Books, the University of Edinburgh (£2 on the door includes light refreshments, no booking required):

Yorkshire gentlewoman Alice Thornton (1626-1707) by Prof. Cordelia Beattie (45 mins)

The Remarkable Deliverances of Alice Thornton, one-woman performance by Debbie Cannon (1 hour)

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House History on tour!

If you missed our recent house history exhibition, there’s a second chance to view the display boards when they tour North Yorkshire’s libraries over the next few months.  Come along for ideas, inspiration and practical advice on how to begin to research your own property.   

So far, the exhibition has visited libraries in Harrogate (May 2023), Ripon (June), Scarborough (July), Whitby (August), Great Ayton (September), Pickering (October), Northallerton (November), Derwent Valley Bridge Community Library (December), Stokesley (January 2024), Thirsk (February) and Richmond (March) . Looking ahead, it will be on display at:

Catterick Community Library, Catterick Garrison – April 3^rd to 29^th

Selby Library – May 3^rd to 29^th

Skipton Library – June 5^th to 28^th

South Craven Community Library, Cross Hills – July 3rd to 31^st

Look out for further details to be advertised locally.

Don’t forget to take a look at our accompanying online house history guide packed with information on how to get started on your research, the range of resources in our collections here and how to use them.

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Popping up around the county!

We’ll be taking our pop-up archive to venues around the county this year.  Each event is an opportunity to view a range of historic maps, photographs and other records relating to the local area. 

Archive staff will be on hand to answer any questions you may have and to offer advice and guidance. Come along and let us know what you’re researching!

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Past exhibitions at the Record Office:

Welcome to the railways of North Yorkshire!

From the 1830s, railways had a huge impact, significantly improving travel and reducing journey times across the country. They allowed people to travel further than ever before for business, transporting goods, and for leisure, holidays and daytrips to the coast.

In this display, we are highlighting some of the railway records held in our collections at the Record Office. From a plan of the Whitby and Pickering railway, the first line to be opened in the North Riding in 1832, to a magazine celebrating the 150th anniversary of passenger railways in 1975, you can also meet a life-size image of Charles Henry Simpson, ticket collector at Harrogate Railway Station in the 1920s. In addition, we have historic photographs, railway maps, posters, timetables, plans and much more!

Follow this link to see some of the material featured in the exhibition!

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The Lure of Antiquity: 200 years of travel to Italy

Journey with us to Italy through the eyes of 18^th and 19^th-century travellers to visit the ancient sites of Rome and the Bay of Naples in our new exhibition at the Record Office.

25^th May to 31^st August 2023

Tuesday to Friday 9.30am to 4.00pm

Free admission, no need to book

See the earliest 17^th-century guidebook to Italy, travel journals, diaries, sketches and correspondence; read contemporary accounts of visits to ancient sites: the Colosseum by moonlight, ancient sculpture by torchlight, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum.  Marvel at adventurous ascents of Mount Vesuvius to reach the fiery crater of the volcano.

See what a passport looked like in the 1800s and, in the days before planes, trains and automobiles, discover how tourists travelled, where they stayed, what they bought and who they met.

Follow this link to see material featured in the exhibition, and read transcripts of extracts from 18th- and 19th-century travel journals.

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Archives at Dusk returns… for one night only!

Thursday 25^th May 2023

6.00pm to 8.30pm

Free admission, no need to book

This year we will be joined by very special guests. Craven Museum and Gallery will transport us to Elbolton cave in the Yorkshire Dales with Neolithic archaeology & artefacts. We’ll learn about the strategic importance of the map in military history from experts from The Green Howards Museum and travel along the tracks with the Wensleydale Railway, with a chance to see original documents and artefacts and to meet some of the railway workers.

This is a rare and exciting chance to see behind the scenes at the Record Office and glimpse some of the wonderful and unique archival history on your doorstep.

Follow this link to see material that was on display for the evening

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