• RECORD OFFICES

  Those embarking on research in Cumberland may be forgiven for being confused - the Cumbria Archive Services offer the choice of no less than four Record Offices! Most counties are covered by just the one! However the Carlisle Record Office (CRO) may be the first, and most productive stop for many researchers.
  • Carlisle Archive Centre
    Lady Gillford`s House, Petteril Bank Road
    Carlisle, CA1 3AJ
  Here you will find original source material for 'the part of the historic county of Cumberland which is north of the River Derwent'. Carlisle, Keswick, Penrith and Maryport are places contained in this area. For the rest of the former county of Cumberland, see the Whitehaven Record Office below. The CRO is located within the walls of Carlisle Castle, and you may be fortunate enough to see the changing of the guard when you visit! There is a car park just to the west of the Castle and it is not necessary to pay the visitor's admission to the Castle if your business is at the CRO. The usual Record Office security precautions are however in place - you will be required to leave outer clothing and briefcases, etc., in the provided lockers before entering the search room. The originals of the Church of England parish registers, various Court Records, Probate indexes and copies of most Wills as well as a wide range of other records will be found here, as well as microfilm of the 1841 and 1851 census. Other census years may be found at County Local Studies Libraries. A Reader's Ticket is required but may be applied for on the first visit. (Information is provided about how paid research can be requested.) They're nice people at the CRO and it is always a pleasant visit. The remainder of Cumberland is covered by the Whitehaven Office:-
  • Whitehaven Archive and Local Studies Centre
    Scotch Street
    Whitehaven, CA28 7NL
  The Whitehaven Archive and Local Studies Centre provides access to records relating to 'the area of West Cumbria bounded by the River Derwent in the North and the River Duddon in the South'. Typically, this covers the area around Workington, Cockermouth, and Whitehaven. Typical contents are similar to the Carlisle Record Office. Microfilmed and printed copies of Cumberland material may also be found at the Kendal Record Office:-
  • ARCHON (Archives On-Line) Information service for locations of other Record Offices throughout the country. Added 15 Jun 2005 for compatibility with DBY/GLS/HEF.

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  • MUSEUMS

    For other sources of archival material in Cumberland, the Tullie House Museum may prove of interest:-
    • Tullie House Museum
      Castle Street
      Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 8TP
    The Tullie House is a museum and art gallery with an emphasis on the area's Roman and turbulent border history. If your family was involved with the reivers, it's worth a visit. It is immediately across from the Castle and they also have a postal research service which seems to specialize in researching reivers and outlaws.

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  • LIBRARIES

    • Cumbria Libraries
      11 Globe Lane
      Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 8NX
    The Carlisle Library is located within the Lanes, a pedestrian shopping area about half a mile from the Castle. It's a modern, well equipped facility with good general holdings. They have microfilm census returns for most of the available years, and they are adding additional film readers. Most of the interesting material is not on open shelves but can be asked for at the 2^nd floor desk across from the microfilm readers. On my [Ed: Don's] visits, the staff have been helpful and knowledgeable. Cumbria County Council also provide Cumbria Libraries : Location Details for Libraries elsewhere in the county.
  • The following libraries also have material of relevance to Cumberland research:
    • University of Durham - Library Archives and Special Collections
    • University of York - Borthwick Institute
  [The above information was transferred from the main GENUKI/Cumberland index page on 15 Apr 2005]

• Formed by a merger of the Public Record Office and the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, The National Archives (TNA) is the principal repository for English and Welsh records. You might like to start by browsing the titles of their 193 guides classified under 'family history'. TNA offer many, many useful Research Guides.

• The National Archives (TNA)'s Discovery system is now the key to finding their holdings - see also: TNA Discovery Help.

• TNA's Access to Archives (A2A) programme has been absorbed into Discovery (above).

• The National Register of Archives has now been absorbed into Discovery (above). It is/was an extensive searchable database (formerly run by the Royal Commision on Historical Manuscripts, now part of TNA) which contains information on the nature and location of manuscripts and historical records that relate to British history.

• Your Archives — NB this is now closed but remains available as a read-only resource — "The National Archives' online community of records users", a wiki that archive users can contribute to: "These pages are for you to contribute your knowledge of archival sources held by The National Archives and by other archives throughout the UK."

• The National Archives (TNA, Kew) have a worldwide list of archives. This links into the UK section.

• The L.D.S. (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) have now provided online search facilities for the I.G.I. (International Genealogical Index). As well as the general search facility, there is also a Custom Search page allowing more refined searches. Hugh Wallis has provided a search facility which greatly simplifies searching by batch number. See also Finding L.D.S. Batch Numbers.

• The FamilySearch site has a list of Family History Centres in England. These are provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

• In particular, the London Family History Centre has a useful web site.

• The Guildhall Library, London.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/The_Parliamentary_Archives_(U.K.)National Collections

Bevan, Amanda, (Ed.). Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office (6th ed.), The National Archives. [ISBN 1903365341] 
["This is a new, revised edition of the best-selling guide. Now in its sixth edition, Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office continues to provide comprehensive guidance to all researchers, new or experienced, wishing to trace their forebears among the records of government or courts held at The National Archives. It leads the reader through the census and military service records, wills and lawsuits, court rolls and hearth taxes and all other records where our ancestors may have left their tracks. . . this new revised edition provides information on this and many other releases of records at the National Archives, including army, navy, merchant navy and immigration records. New information about how to access the records via the catalogue is also provided."]

• The National Archives (TNA) in Kew brings together the Public Records Office (PRO) and the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and is the principal repository for English and Welsh records. ( Note: most Scottish records are held in the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh, and Northern Ireland Records are held by The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) .)
• Now that the Access to Archives (A2A) project is no more, TNA's  Discovery catalogue covers holdings in many regional archives as well as the National Archives themselves - see their  Find an Archive page. (To search all these other archives use the "Held By" option in the catalogue's Advanced Searchfacility.)
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  • Copies of the National Archives' Research Guidesare now available online, as is their very useful catalogue.
  • Research Guides to Online Collectionsat the National Archives.
  • The National Archives' Looking for a Person?resource listing - "Each guide tells you where you can find, access and understand the relevant records".
  • Their Manorial Documents Registeridentifies the location of manorial documents.
  • Your Archives- "The National Archives' online community of records users", a wiki that archive users could contribute to - now closed.
  • The National Archives publishes a useful free enewslettergiving a "monthly round-up of news, blogs, offers and events ".
  • They also have a YouTube channel of videos providing tips on using the Discovery catalogue, visiting, etc.
• Quick animated guidesto using the National Archives.
• The British Library'scollections may be regarded as the world's finest; the range and effectiveness of the services it provides on the basis of these collections are without rival. Their web pages give access to their comprehensive online cataloguesincluding the British Library Public Catalogue, as well as providing full details of the library's services and facilities.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a wide range of genealogical resources at its Family History Centers around the world.  For contact details,  click here and search for the centre nearest you.

Listings and Guides

• The National Archives' "gateway to archival resources, projects and initiatives in the UK and abroad" has been transferred to the UNESCO Archives Portal (archived copy).
• JISC's  Library Hub Discover provides a means of  searching resources in UK and Irish academic, national & specialist libraries - as of Jan 2020, it held  "42,377,775 records created from 106,728,673 records contributed by 144 institutions".
• The Archives Hubis a service run by MIMAS at Manchester Computing which provides free access to descriptions of archives held in the UK's universities and colleges. The descriptions can be searched in a number of ways and will form one part of the emerging UK National Archives Network.
• LDS Family History Centres.
• Culture 24, "Latest news, exhibition reviews, links, listings and education resources from thousands of UK museums, galleries, archives and libraries, all in one place".
• Details of 1600 Museums, Galleries and Historic Housesprovided by Britains Finest.
• UK250's listing of  UK museum websites (archived copy)
• Details of Maritime and Naval Museumsin Britain and Ireland provided by Dr Martin H. Evans and Dr Janet West. A Location Mapis also available.
• The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography- "The biab online database contains datasets covering publications from AD 1695 to the present day on archaeology and the historic environment, historic buildings, maritime and industrial archaeology, environmental history, and the conservation of material culture" - nearly 200,000 references, as of June 2007.
• Community Archives- set up on behalf of the National Council on Archives "to show the variety and quantity of community archives in the UK."
• UK Parliamentary Archives - FamilySearch guide.section.

Specialist Collections

• Society of Genealogists
• Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies,
• The Methodist Archives and Research Centreis part of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
• The Huguenot Libraryis located at University College, London
• The Royal Archives - subscription access via Find My Past.
• The The British Postal Musem and Archive(formerly Post Office Archives and Records Services) holds the records of the British Post Office from the 17th century to the present day.
• Institute for Historical Research
• India Office(archived copy): Family History Research.
• The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum.
• The Women's Library- "housing the most extensive collection of women's history in the UK".
• The National Gas Archive- "The NGA holds up to two kilometres of records covering the history and development of the UK gas industry. The records date from about 1812 to the present day and include many of the administrative, financial, legal, technical, property and personnel records of the industry."
• The National Army Museum.

Miscellaneous

• Association of Independent Libraries- details of member institutions and publications.