Surrey History Centre in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England, collects and rescues archives and printed materials relating to Surrey's past and present.

Building and facilities

The present building was conceived in the mid-1990s, driven by the need, recognised by

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has ...

since the late 1970s, to replace the former Surrey Record Office, then in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

. The building concept was influenced by the

West Sussex Record Office The West Sussex Record Office at Orchard Street, Chichester, is the county record office for the county of West Sussex. It is run by West Sussex County Council. Notable holdings The record office holds a number of unique collections connected t ...

under construction at the time. The construction project was an early recipient of

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

funding, being awarded £2.75M in December 1995. This supplemented the provision of the site and £3.75M funding from Surrey County Council. The design was by W.S. Atkins and MJ Gleeson Group were the contractor. The centre was formally opened on 31 March 1999 by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. The new building brought together collections from the Surrey Record Office, the Guildford Muniment Room (a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

), and the Surrey Local Studies Library, formerly located in Guildford Library.

Collections

Among the most notable collections are the official records of Surrey County Council since 1889; the historical records of the Mores and More-Molyneux of

Loseley Park Loseley Park is a large Tudor manor house with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in Artington close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, the ...

, near

; the records of the many mental hospitals within the county (an extraordinarily rich source for family, social and medical historians); Philip Bradley's collection of fairground photographs; papers of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

and "Carrolliana"; the papers of the Labour politician and Home Secretary

James Chuter Ede James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede of Epsom, (11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, becomi ...

; manuscripts and papers of the author

R. C. Sherriff Robert Cedric Sherriff, FSA, FRSL (6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play '' Journey's End'', which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War. He wrote several plays, many nov ...

; archives, plans and garden designs of Gertrude Jekyll; archives of the infantry regiments associated with the county, including the

Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

, the East Surrey Regiment and the

Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army which existed from 1959 to 1966. In 1966, it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, the Royal Sussex Regiment and the Middlesex Regim ...

; archives of Surrey clubs, societies and local organisations, including

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London ...

and

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

Grandstand Association; and the archives of major businesses such as

Dennis Specialist Vehicles Dennis Specialist Vehicles was an English manufacturer of commercial vehicles based in Guildford, building buses, fire engines, lorries (trucks) and municipal vehicles such as dustcarts. All vehicles were made to order to the customer's require ...

Ltd of

, and

John Broadwood & Sons John Broadwood & Sons is an English piano manufacturer, founded in 1728 by Burkat Shudi and continued after his death in 1773 by John Broadwood. Early history John Broadwood (1732–1812), a Scottish joiner and cabinetmaker, came to London ...

, piano manufacturers. The archives of

and a large number of papers relating to members of the Broadwood family, including

Lucy Broadwood Lucy Etheldred Broadwood (9 August 1858 – 22 August 1929) was an English folksong collector and researcher, and great-granddaughter of John Broadwood, founder of the piano manufacturers Broadwood and Sons. As one of the founder members of the Fo ...

the folk song collector, which are all housed at Surrey History Centre, were the subject of an extensive conservation programme, aided by Heritage Lottery Fund funding and completed in 2006. Surrey History Centre holds an extensive collection of parish registers. Most of their Church of England parish registers, from 1538 to 1987 (baptisms to 1912; marriages to 1937; and burials to 1987) are now available via

ancestry.co.uk Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018 ...

. The online ''Guide to parish registers held at Surrey History Centre'' indicates that significant numbers of the registers for parishes historically in Surrey but now in London are held by

London Metropolitan Archives The London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) is the principal local government archive repository for the Greater London area, including the City of London: it is the largest county record office in the United Kingdom. It was established under its pr ...

References

Sources

* * * * (reissued 1981) *

External links

* * * {{Authority control County record offices in England History of Surrey Woking Archives in Surrey

Building and facilities

Collections

See also

References

Sources

External links