Urgent need for new home for Cheshire archives service

Sep 29 2008 Chester Chronicle

THERE is an urgent need for new premises for Cheshire’s Archives and Local Studies Service – says community services scrutiny select committee chairman Larry Toale.

His committee sent a resolution to Cheshire’s Executive calling for the issue to be raised with East and West Cheshire and Chester Shadow Councils as soon as possible.

The resolution also welcomed the ongoing discussions with Chester City Council and the University of Chester to develop a consultants’ brief for new premises for the archives service and the Grosvenor Museum.

County Councillor Toale said: “The need for new premises has been an issue in all my 20 years of being a member of the county council.

“The archives contain priceless documents which are stored in several different locations including the main record office in Chester as well as former prison cells under Chester Castle and the Winsford Salt Mine. They should really be under one roof.

“Around £8 million is needed to fund a new building, a great deal of money when funds are also needed for core council functions.

“However I would urge both new councils to seriously consider my committee’s plea, especially as the service is to be retained as it is now for the whole of Cheshire including Warrington and Halton.”

There are nearly five miles of archives which cover from the 11th century to the present day. They grow at around 75 metres a year.

They range from recipes for medicines to cure the plague to 19th century accounts of the salt industry, from records of crime and punishment to sports clubs, not forgetting innumerable personal stories held in parish registers, wills, diaries and letters.

Cheshire’s Executive took into account the issues raised by the scrutiny select committee.

The Executive adopted a proposal raised by County Councillor Dorothy Flude that effective arrangements and protocols are put in place to ensure the many valuable historic documents used as working documents in buildings throughout Cheshire should be archived as a matter of urgency so that they are not lost when Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester Councils take over in April

“This legacy of research contained in books, maps and paper work will be important for future generations,” said County Councillor Flude.

“I am very pleased that arrangements are put in place to seek to ensure they will be safeguarded for the future.

“The county council should also write to all school governing bodies to remind them of the historical significance of many school records, for example log books, and their need to be preserved by the Archives Service.

“Finally I believe that we must ensure that the people of east Cheshire have access to the archives, by exploiting the possibilities of information and communications technology from next year when the two unitary councils come into being. This is something I believe would be of considerable interest to anyone interested in all aspects of history.”