Cumbria Archives

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Cumbria Archives Welcome to Cumbria Archives. Collecting, conserving & making archives accessible to all.

The Archive Service cares for parish registers, other church records, wills, electoral registers, maps and plans, poor law records, title deeds, and photographs. The archives of many families, businesses, local authorities, solicitors, societies and schools also help form a fascinating record of all aspects of life in the county. We provide:

Places in our Archive Centres where you can look at archives for yourselves
An education service for local schools, colleges, students and teachers
Information and advice on the preservation and conservation of archives
Facilities for official organisations, churches, businesses and members of the public to donate or deposit archives for safe-keeping
Exhibitions and talks on the work of the Archive Service and archives in our care

Damson picking, at Johnscales Farm in the Lyth Valley. This photograph is from the Joseph Hardman collection, referenc...
23/10/2026



Damson picking, at Johnscales Farm in the Lyth Valley. This photograph is from the Joseph Hardman collection, reference WDHD*

Joseph Hardman was born in Radcliffe in 1893; he moved to Kendal in 1911 and set yup a window cleaning business. His interest in photography, lead him to a career as a professional photographer, focusing on Lakeland life. He died in 1972.

Lakeland Arts Westmorland and Furness Libraries Archives+ The Museum of English Rural Life

"Owing to the heavy rain last Saturday. Poppy Day: Volunteer as a Seller"Here's a page from a scrapbook from our Royal B...
22/10/2026

"Owing to the heavy rain last Saturday. Poppy Day: Volunteer as a Seller"

Here's a page from a scrapbook from our Royal British Legion Carlisle & Stanwix collection, reference DSO 202/11.

Royal British Legion Cumbria's Museum of Military Life

Thank you for coming to visit us, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! We hope to see you again at soon. Images copyrig...
20/10/2026

Thank you for coming to visit us, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! We hope to see you again at soon.
Images copyright .
Muncaster Castle Cumberland Council

16/10/2026

Did you know that you can download our newsletter via

https://cumbriaarchives.org.uk/sites/default/files/11085453/2026-08/Cumbria%20Archives%20Newsletter%20Summer%202026%20v5-compressed.pdf


Millom & District Local History Society

Thank you for coming to visit us, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! Hope to see you again soon
16/10/2026

Thank you for coming to visit us, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! Hope to see you again soon

This week in Barrow, Conservation have been removing sticky labels from the front on a new accession of Barrow Carnival ...
13/10/2026

This week in Barrow, Conservation have been removing sticky labels from the front on a new accession of Barrow Carnival photographs. To remove sticky gunk, we usually use a specialist crepe eraser, but the surface of these photographs was too vulnerable for this. Luckily, we found scraps of blotter helped to ease the gunk off the surface instead.

Photo of harvesting activity at Mr Thomas Bell's Middle Farm, near Brampton, showing a heap known as a pike. ...
09/10/2026



Photo of harvesting activity at Mr Thomas Bell's Middle Farm, near Brampton, showing a heap known as a pike.

The Museum of English Rural Life

Here’s a snapshot of the kind of documents our digitisation team have been digitising this month. ...
07/10/2026

Here’s a snapshot of the kind of documents our digitisation team have been digitising this month.


Robert Anderson, or the "Cumberland Bard", became famous for his poems and ballads written in Cumbrian dialect, capturin...
01/10/2026

Robert Anderson, or the "Cumberland Bard", became famous for his poems and ballads written in Cumbrian dialect, capturing everyday life and local customs. He was buried in Carlisle Cathedral in late September 1833.

Here’s the frontispiece and title page from Whitehaven’s ‘Special Collections’ book stock “Anderson’s Cumberland Ballads” undated but an edition after 1837. From the additional biographical information provided by his editor/ publisher, it seems he fell on hard times towards the end of his life and refers to his ‘intemperance’. His friends clubbed together to pay for his lodgings.

Tullie

29/09/2026

In Barrow this week, our conservator Claire has been repairing a shattered tracing paper plan of Barrow Harbour (Z/152/36). This is a bridging repair using remoistenable nanocellulose film, which is safe, strong and close to invisible. Two pieces rejoined, many more to go…

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Carlisle Archives
Carlisle
CA13AJ

Telephone

+441228227284

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