Have you ever wondered about an historic building or the old docks in Preston or even one of Preston’s great characters from the past? Then look no further than the Lancashire Archives where you can discover an incredible amount of information on most things Preston or the whole of Lancashire for that matter. With over 900 years of stored archives there will be something to catch the interest of virtually everyone.
The Lancashire Archives is also a must for all those who are interested in finding out about their family history. Many records are kept there, which would be a fantastic boon to those doing genealogy research.
All public areas, including the searchroom, are situated on the first floor and there is lift access for those who find stairs difficult to use and there is also disabled parking and accessible toilet facilities.
Here are some of the facilities available
There is also a public tearoom which offers a drinks machine, chilled water and space to eat a packed lunch and chat to friends.
Admission is free, and anyone is welcome to use Lancashire Archives. They do not operate a booking system but a reader’s ticket is required for access to original documents.
Lancashire Archives is part of the County Archive Research Network (CARN) and you are required to produce a valid reader’s ticket when you enter and leave. This is a security measure to help protect irreplaceable documents. If you do not have a ticket issued by one of the participating offices in the Network, the Lancashire Archives can issue you with one free of charge when you make your visit. You will need to produce official evidence of your address and signature such as a driving licence, passport, a utility bill or some other official communication which includes your printed address.
The Lancashire Archives also run  ‘Getting to know the archives’ sessions on the second Friday of each month to enable new visitors to be acquainted with how to use the public searchroom, know what sort of records they hold, how to go about family history research and to get an insight on what goes on behind the scenes.
Whatever your reason is for taking a trip to the archives, one thing is for certain and that is you will notice how friendly and helpful all the staff are, and always willing in pointing you in the right direction to archived documents. There is no doubt that the Lancashire Archives is a little gem in the heart of Preston and being open five days a week with one late night on Tuesdays and Saturday of every second week of the month, it’s makes it so convenient for you to do whatever research you have in hand.
For all enquiries and information you can go to the Lancashire Archives website or you can email them on record.office@lancashire.gov.uk or telephone them on 01772 533039
The address is:
Lancashire Archives
Lancashire Record Office,
Bow Lane,
Preston.
PR1 2RE
If you have been before or made a first time visit to the Lancashire Archives let us know what you thought in the comments section below.