About our service

The Cheshire Archives & Local Studies service identifies, collects and cares for archives and publications that are the evidence of Cheshire communities’ lives past and present. We deliver access for all to our collections for information, learning and enjoyment and work to make sure archives survive so that future generations will be able to do the same.

We are a shared service of Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East Councils.

The service is also responsible for delivering the archives service for Warrington and Halton boroughs.

Want to review our service? You can leave a review on Google or contact us directly with any feedback.

Cheshire's archives: a story shared

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Central to our vision for Cheshire’s archives is providing new premises for the Archives service, its activities and the collections, and bringing collections closer to people. The project is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and fits closely with their aims and ambitions for people, heritage and communities that have been developed with input from National Lottery players.

We have been awarded a development phase grant of £544,000 to progress our project to create two new history centres in Chester and Crewe.

The grant will help fund the development of plans for the new centres in more detail and pilot a range of activities across both boroughs to engage people with their histories through archives.

A further grant application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2021 will, if successful, fund the delivery of the project.

Latest update: September 2021

Over the past 6 months, a major focus for the project has been speaking to potential project partners and organisations across the heritage, cultural, education and voluntary sectors. The aim of these meetings has been to find out how we might collaborate around future events and programmes, should we be successful in securing funding to deliver our project.

These discussions, consultations and surveys have been taking place with, for example

Family and local history societies
Organisations that work with young people e.g. the YMCA
Volunteers
Teachers
Organisations that support older people to keep living independently and live well
Organisations that provide services and advocate on behalf of people living with disability
CHAWREC (Cheshire, Halton and Warrington Race and Equality Centre)
Local arts organisations e.g. theatre companies
Local libraries and museums

We have asked participants about

· potential social needs that they address and that we can offer support with

· programmes and facilities that they would like to see on offer within the expanded service

· their own engagement with local heritage and history

We’ve found that there is interest in working with us to develop and grow our collections. We’ve also found that people are really keen to cooperate over heritage-focused events and programmes which use creative means to reach diverse audiences, as well as interest in off-site, on-site, and digital activities to reach a wider range of audiences for the service. Over the last few months, we have also run a number of pilot events, which you can read about in our Newsletter.

This engagement will continue over the next few months, while we also further develop our proposals for new interpretation of the collections within the new centres and digitally. Plans for the new centres are also in early stages of development.

Frequently asked questions relating to the move.

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies building entrance

This website is run in partnership between Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East Councils.

Curiouser and Curiouser: Stories from our Collections

Photo exhibitions on Flickr