In the footsteps of Len

Alistair, from our Modern Records team, has been cataloguing a collection maps and plans about which we know remarkably little: only reference numbers for each document and the shelf on which it sits. Since resuming work on the premises, Alistair has described one-third of the 360-ish rolls. I'll let him pick up the story from …

Building control plans

A guide to the history of building control and to the surviving plans at Derbyshire Record Office. In the early Victorian period, outbreaks of disease - especially the cholera epidemics of 1848 - aroused public concern over poor housing and defective drains and sewers. The Public Health Acts of 1848 and 1872, as well as the …

Building History – Getting Started

An introductory guide to the sources available for researching property in Derbyshire There are a large number of different sources available for researching the history of Derbyshire buildings, but the survival and availability of sources varies significantly between different places. Most records do not relate to specific properties and it is very rare to be …

Discovering Ilkeston

Yesterday morning I visited Ilkeston Library to deliver a new workshop  introducing people to the various sources available for researching the history a Derbyshire building. It was a quiet session, with only two in attendance - though one had travelled all the way from Aston on Trent which took me quite by surprise! With the …