Heritage Open Days 2024 - Lancashire Archives & Local History

Lancashire Archives & Local History

Heritage Open Days: 6th -15th September 2024

I was fortunate enough to be able to make the time to visit a number of places around the town, and one further afield, earlier in the month. I am only just getting around to looking back through my photographs.

Heritage Open Days is an annual celebration of England's history and culture that allows visitors free access to heritage sites and community events that are either not usually open to the public, would normally charge an entrance fee, or that are putting on something special for the festival. Don't blame me if you missed this, as I tried my best to post things about them beforehand.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to visit everything on offer during Saturday 14th September. There was quite a bit of overlap between events on that day in Preston, let alone the wider Lancashire. However, I made time to visit the Lancashire Archives as my last call of the day. It is possible to visit on any normal week, but on this occasion visitors were allowed into the vaults, which isn't a regular occurrence. The archives are usually open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the second Saturday of the month (10am - 4pm). Weekday opening hours are 9:30am - 5pm.

Behind the scenes at Lancashire Archives - Sealed Documents

I got so carried away with the 'behind the scenes' bit, I totally neglected to look at the exhibitions! 🤦‍♂️

"See behind the scenes at Lancashire Archives & Local History where you'll find 900 years of Lancashire's written heritage, with a display of material relating to Preston Railway Station, and the National Football Museum Pride of the Pitch exhibition."

Visiting the Lancashire Archives

The Lancashire Archives and Local Studies are located at Bow Lane, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2RE.

From 14th October to 4th November the public access lift at Lancashire Archives will be unavailable while it is replaced and upgraded. For those unable to use the stairs to access the building, please let them know when booking your visit, or by email, and they will escort you to an alternative accessible entrance.

You are welcome to visit at any time during our opening hours to look at original archive documents, use a public computer, look at microform material, listen to digitised sound archives, or access our local history printed collections in the search-room library. You can walk in at any time during our opening hours or book in advance to guarantee a seat in the search-room.

Many of the collections require staff to retrieve them from the strong-rooms. To help guarantee your documents are ready when you arrive, they encourage researchers using original archive documents to make an appointment, giving 2 working days notice.

Behind the scenes at Lancashire Archives - A Document

Behind the scenes at Lancashire Archives - Illustrations

Behind the scenes at Lancashire Archives - Queen Elizabeth I Document

However, to visit you want to consider registering for an archives card. The Lancashire Archives are part of the Archives Card network. Registering for an Archives Card helps you quickly access collections in Archives around the country. Lancashire Archives and Local History ask visitors who wish to use the archive collections to show a valid Archives Card, if you have one, or to register if you do not. You can access the archives as a day visitor, but having an archives card helps speed up the process of signing in on entering the archives when you visit Lancashire Archives or any other service using the Archives Card scheme.

One thing to note is that the search-room library has a number of reference books available to read that are not available at other local libraries. If you have a Lancashire Library Account, then you can search for books online. Any held at the Lancashire Archives search-room library will show up as available at Lancashire Archives (ZRO)