£8.2m archive holds many of Cumbria's treasures (From The Westmorland Gazette)

£8.2m archive holds many of Cumbria's treasures

1:40pm Friday 20th January 2012 in Nostalgia

Carlisle's new £8.2m state-of-the-art archive centre has been officially opened by mountaineering legend Sir Chris Bonington.

The centre holds more than one million historical treasures from the former part of the county of Cumberland east of the river Derwent.

These include the Dormont Book, containing the rules and regulations for governing the city of Carlisle dating from 1561, and the Lanercost Priory Cartulary, from 1252 to 1370, which records the landholdings of the Priory, and is illustrated with drawings of churches, people engaged in agricultural work and many coats of arms.

The new centre has been nine years in the making, and has been possible thanks to a £4.8m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund — the largest grant the fund has ever awarded in Cumbria.

The former dilapidated, Georgian, Grade II* listed Lady Gillford’s House has been fully renovated and transformed by the addition of an innovative glass-fronted building, which houses the main archive and public study area.

Formerly based in the grounds of Carlisle Castle, north Cumbria’s archives are now housed in a temperature and humidity-controlled hi-tech strongroom protected by an inert gas fire protection system, which would douse the room in gas to kill flames, rather than water, which would damage the documents. The thermal mass of the strongroom's solid concrete walls provide a naturally cool environment to protect the precious papers.

Photographs and modern media are stored in an even cooler strongroom which, like all the archive storage rooms, has moving electronic shelves. The new strongroom has the capacity to store the whole archive, as well as 25 years of projected growth.

Sir Chris said: "This is an exciting development for the county. Protecting these vital historical documents offers future generations a window into local history which might otherwise be lost."

Cumbria County Council Chairman John Woolley said: "This was a huge project and one which we are very proud of. It’s especially pleasing that in our archive service’s 50th year we’re able to open this outstanding facility so soon after securing the Wainwright archive for the county."

County councillor Gary Strong, Cabinet member for the archive service, said: “The grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and our £3.3m investment in Lady Gillford’s house shows the importance the county council places in protecting our local history and I’m sure that many people now and in the future will take full advantage of this fantastic facility.”

Virginia Tandy, Trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund', said: “The fantastic transformation of this historic building and the creation of a community archive, new exhibitions and facilities for local groups will puts the archive right at the heart of the community. This is a fantastic resource, and we wish everyone involved the very best for the future."

Each of the four archive centres in Cumbria (Barrow, Carlisle, Kendal and Whitehaven) covers a distinct geographical area. Kendal collects archives for the former county of Westmorland and the Sedbergh district which was previously part of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

l The centre is open Tuesdays-Fridays from 9.30am-5pm. It is also open on certain Saturdays - ring 01228 227285 or 227284 for more details. Members of the public can simply turn up and staff will be on hand to give them help and advice in accessing records. There is no need to make an appointment.