Arrangements for restricted access/closure of Carlisle Record Office

Carlisle Record Office closed its doors for the final time on Thursday 29 April 2010.  This is to enable staff and volunteers to focus on the essential work behind the scenes preparing for the removal of millions of unique historic documents from four separate buildings in Carlisle into their new home at Petteril Bank in south Carlisle. The Carlisle Record Office will start to move to these new purpose-built premises this spring and will reopen on 1 June 2011.  

Archive services available to you from May 2010:

• Cumberland parish registers, Cumberland nonconformist church registers, and probate records from Carlisle Diocese 1564-1941 will be available on microfilm at the Local Studies Library in Carlisle Library in The Lanes (01228 227321)
• Microfilms of all Cumberland parish registers, and some wills are available in the Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library in Whitehaven (01946 506420)
• Microfilms of all Cumberland bishops' transcripts and probate records 1564-1941 are available at the Cumbria Record Office in Kendal (01539 713540) 
• The archive offices in Barrow, Kendal and Whitehaven will be open as usual
• We have a Research Service and our experts will carry out your research for a reasonable fee (01228 227285) 
• If you have an urgent need to consult records for official reasons (eg magistrates’ court records) - please contact us to discuss this. We will do our best to find a way of helping you.     

We understand that the temporary closure of the Record Office in The Castle will inconvenience researchers, and we are sorry about that.   However, we are sure you will appreciate that moving an archives office is a huge task, and we need to have all our staff available to help with it.   Moving the Carlisle archive collections is the equivalent of moving 85 houses simultaneously!   Please be patient with us whilst we move.

The new Cumbria Archives Centre (Carlisle) will provide first class facilities for researchers, much better than we could previously offer in The Castle.   Updates about the move regularly appear on this website.   Alternatively, if you would like us to contact you directly when we reopen, please email us to register your contact details.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new premises at Petteril Bank in Carlisle in June 2011.