Ceredigion Archives ( cy, Archifdy Ceredigion) is a regional archive service and the county record office for

Ceredigion County Council Ceredigion County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Ceredigion) is the governing body for the county of Ceredigion, since 1996 one of the unitary authorities of Wales. The council's main offices are in Aberaeron. History The current council was created ...

. Located since 2012 in

Aberystwyth Town Hall Aberystwyth Town Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Dref Aberystwyth) is a municipal structure in Queen's Square, Aberystwyth, Wales. The structure, which was the headquarters of Aberystwyth Borough Council, has operated since 2012 as a public library and a p ...

, the archive collects, curates, preserves and gives access to records relating to the county and its administration. The archives is open to members of the public for research,

family history Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family a ...

, local history, university degree work, academic research, and research for business purposes.

History

The Ceredigion County Archives was established in 1974 as the third record office for

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use f ...

and was originally known as Cardiganshire Area Record Office. It was renamed and re-launched as Ceredigion Archives in 1996. Until 2012 the Archive was located in the Grade II listed Queen's Hotel building on Aberystwyth Promanade but when the council sold that building, a new purpose built archive complex was built at the Old Town Hall, which also houses the town Library. In 2019 the Archives secured funding from the Welsh Government to purchase the nearby old lifeboat station and convert it into an archival storage facility. Old_town_hall_queens_road

Collections

The archives holds a number of important historical collections relating to the history of Ceredigion. These include court records, estate records and

parish registers A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

, making the archives a popular destination for family history researchers. The archive also includes a collection of 19th century shipping records and a comprehensive collection of car registration records, charting the history of motoring in the county. In 2015 the archives received a grant from the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust to preserve an important letter from a local soldier who fought at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. The archives also holds the public archives of Ceredigion County Council including electoral rolls, school records and local council records.

References

External links

Ceredigion Archives Website
{{coord, 52.41741, N, 4.0817, W, display=title Archives in Wales Buildings and structures in Aberystwyth