Access Keys:
LUNCHTIME CLOSURE: Kendal Archives will be CLOSED between 1-2pm on Friday 17 February. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Interested in volunteering? We'd welcome your help with Kendal's new project to computerise marriage index. Find out more!
Computers, to allow brief ‘look-ups’ of useful websites, including Ancestry, to complement other sources for Local History and local Family History, are available in this searchroom. Staff will be happy to point them out to you.
Getting to Kendal Archive Centre
By car: Limited parking is available at the County Offices. As you sign in to the County Offices, please obtain a permit from Reception.
By bus: Buses to Kendal stop in the town centre, which is 5 minutes walk from the County Offices.
By train: The nearest main line railway station is Oxenholme which is 2 miles from the town centre; taxis or buses can be caught at the station. Kendal Station, which is a short walk from the Archive Centre, is on the Oxenholme - Windermere branch line.
Sources available at this Archive Centre include: Records relating to the historic county of Westmorland, and also some for the Sedbergh-Dent district (formerly in the West Riding of Yorkshire) and for the Cartmel district (formerly in Lancashire North of the Sands).
We hold the archives of: Church of England Parishes ** Nonconformist Churches ** Local Authorities, Civil Parishes, Statutory Bodies, Official records, Businesses and Industries, Families and Landed Estates, Solicitors, Societies and Organisations, Schools, Charities
Other material includes: I.G.I. (Northern counties only) ** Census returns 1841-1901 for Westmorland and the Sedbergh-Dent district (formerly in the West Riding of Yorkshire) **
Census index for Cumberland, Westmorland and the Isle of Man 1881**, Ordnance Survey maps of Westmorland , Probate records (Deaneries of Kendal and Furness, and Carlisle Consistory Court 1536-1860)** Trade Directories, [Newspapers held at Kendal Library]
** Many of these records are available on microfilm or fiche
Significant collections include the archive of Thomas H. Mawson, landscape architect of Lancaster and Windermere, late 19th to 20th centuries; Lady Anne Clifford (1590-1676) of Appleby Castle records; Sir Daniel Fleming of Rydal Hall papers, late 17th century.
The office also offers:
Parking, hearing loop, refreshment area (drinks available from refreshment area), toilets, photocopying facilities, publications for sale, and research service.
Opening Times:
Monday 9.00-17.00 : Tuesday 9.00-17.00 : Wednesday 9.00-17.00 : Thursday 9.00-17.00 : Friday 9.00-17.00