Barrow Archive and Local Studies Centre

Please note: original archive sources will be available until 5pm on Wednesday evenings and Local Studies and searchroom sources only 5pm-7pm. The Local Studies Library and a wide range of secondary material is available during all opening hours. Follow the link on the right to our New Opening Hours page for more details.

Getting to Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow: 

By car: Parking in the immediate area around the Archive and Local Studies Centre is limited to 2 hours. However, free parking is available at the west end of Duke Street, and there is a pay and display car park behind the Town Hall on Duke Street.

By bus: Buses to Barrow stop on Duke Street across the road from the Archive Centre.

By train: The walk from Barrow station to the Archive Centre takes 5-10 mins. Trains run to Barrow from Carlisle, and from Preston and Lancaster.

Significant collections include the estate papers of the Duke of Buccleuch, reflecting the local iron ore industry c1854-1963, and records of Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. including gun mounting drawings c1898-1950. 

Sources available at this Archives and Local Studies include:  * Church of England Parishes * Nonconformist Churches * Local Authorities * Civil Parishes * Schools * Businesses and Industries * Landed Estates * Solicitors * Societies

* on microform - printouts are available from both microfiche and film.

We also have: Census returns for Furness and Cartmel areas, and South Cumberland including Millom, 1841-1901, plus the 1881 census (indexed) for Lancashire, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Westmorland and the Isle of Man**

Newspapers including : Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser 1848-1914, Barrow News 1883-1985 and North Western Daily/Evening Mail 1898-1995. Also the Millom Gazette 1892-1933 **
Ordnance Survey maps Index to civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths (England and Wales), 1837-1996**

Soldiers Who Died in the Great War CD-ROM, War Graves of the British Empire series
** on microform - printouts are available from both microfiche and film.

The Local Studies Library holds books relating to Barrow and the surrounding counties and an extensive collection of periodicals:

* Chetham Society
* Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
* Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
* Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
* Lancashire and Cheshire Naturalist
* Lancashire Parish Register Society
* Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society
* Northern History
* Fell and Rock Journal
* Surtees Society

The Local Studies Collection of photographs and printed ephemera also provide a valuable source for those interested in the area's past.

The Centre also offers:

Photocopying facilities, publications for sale, research service, wheelchair access and hearing loop. Drinks machine available in adjoining library.