Kendal Archive Centre

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.