Monday, 13 October 2008
If you go to the great majority of counties elsewhere in England, you will find a county record office, sometimes now with an subsidiary area-office. The situation in Yorkshire has never been that simple. In fact, it's very complicated to understand, even for archivists!
There are county record offices in the East Riding and North Yorkshire, and a city archives in both Kingston upon Hull and York. But in West and South Yorkshire, there are offices in each of the nine local government districts. The record offices in West Yorkshire are united in the West Yorkshire Archive Service. In South Yorkshire, all the archive services are provided independently by the four district councils.
In addition to these local authority-provided services there are also two institutions which serve the whole of historic Yorkshire. These are the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research of the University of York and the Yorkshire Archaeological Society (YAS). The Borthwick holds the records of the archdiocese of York, which include the wills admitted to probate for most of Yorkshire from the middle ages to 1858. The YAS was established in the mid-nineteenth century, and provided a place of safekeeping for archives long before local record offices came into existence.
All the offices listed here hold parish and other registers for their areas, although in some cases these are microfilm copies of documents held in other (diocesan) offices.
East Riding of Yorkshire
East Riding of Yorkshire Archives & Local Studies, The Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley, but address correspondence to East Riding Archives & Local Studies, County Hall, Beverley, HU17 9BA Telephone: 01482 392790 E-mail archives.services@eastriding.gov.uk Website www.eastriding.gov.uk/libraries/archives
Hull City Archives, 79 Lowgate, Kingston upon Hull, HU1 1HN Telephone: 01482 615102/615110
E-mail city.archives@hullcc.gov.uk
North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton but address correspondence to County Hall, Northallerton, DL7 8AF. Telephone: 01609 777585
E-mail archives@northyorks.gov.uk Website www.northyorks.gov.uk/archives
York City Archives Department, Art Gallery Building, Exhibition Square, York, YO1 7EW. Telephone: 01904 551878
E-mail archives@york.gov.uk Website www.york.gov.uk/leisure/Libraries/York_city_archive
South Yorkshire
Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department, Central Library, Shambles Street, Barnsley, S70 2 JF Telephone: 01226 773950/773938. Email Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department (Archives@barnsley.gov.uk)
Website: www.barnsley.gov.uk/bguk/Leisure_Culture/Libraries/Archives%20and%20Local%20Studies/Library_Archives
Rotherham Archives and Local Studies Department, Central Library, Walker Place, Rotherham, S65 1JH Telephone: 01709 823616. Email Rotherham Archives and Local Studies Department (archives@rotherham.gov.uk) Website www.rotherham.gov.uk/graphics/Learning/Archives/
Sheffield Archives, 52 Shoreham Street, Sheffield, S1 4SP. Telephone : 0114 203 9395. Email Sheffield Archives Department (archives@sheffield.gov.uk)
West Yorkshire
Website www.archives.wyjs.org.uk
District Archives, 15 Canal Road, Bradford, BD1 4AT. Telephone: 01274 731931. Email Bradford District Archives (bradford@wyjs.org.uk)
Calderdale District Archives, Central Library, Northgate House, Northgate, Halifax, HX1 1UN. Telephone: 01422 392636. Email Calderdale District Archives (calderdale@wyjs.org.uk)
Kirklees District Archives, Central Library, Princess Alexandra Walk, Huddersfield, HD1 2SU. Telephone: 01484 221966. Email Kirklees District Archives (kirklees@wyjs.org.uk)
Leeds District Archives, Chapeltown Road, Sheepscar, Leeds, LS7 3AP. Telephone: 0113 214 5814. Email Leeds District Archives (leeds@wyjs.org.uk)
Wakefield Headquarters, Registry of Deeds, Newstead Road, Wakefield, WF1 2DE. Telephone: 01924 305980. Email Wakefield Headquarters Registry of Deeds (wakefield@wyjs.org.uk)
Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 23 Clarendon Road, Leeds, LS2 9NZ Telephone: 0113 2456362 Email archive@yar.org.uk
