We are delighted to welcome you to our new blog. We’ll be sharing some of the amazing stories from North Yorkshire’s past to be found amongst the five miles of archive collections that we hold. We’ll give you an insight into those collections; how we look after them, with the help of our dedicated team… Read More Welcome to our blog
Described in 1913 as ‘probably the most novel golf course in England’, Goathland Golf Club was located on common land very close to Goathland village. Using archive material held at the Record Office, read about the history of the Club from 1894-1948.… Read More Goathland Golf Club, 1894-1948
Illustrated with maps, plans and historic photographs, this post looks at the history of the piers and harbour in Whitby. Particular focus is given to alterations and improvements that were made in the 19th century using records and reports held in the Record Office collections. … Read More Whitby piers and harbour from 1781-1906
This second and concluding instalment of Crompton and Blane’s travels in Sicily follows them on the latter half of their journey down the east coast. From their daily journal entries, we can share their experiences of an exhausting climb of Mount Etna to view the crater of the volcano and their tour of Syracuse to see the ancient sites, including the remains of Greek temples and the Greek theatre. … Read More Joshua Crompton’s travels through Sicily, 1825 – Part 2: Nicolosi to Syracuse
In this first of a two-part series, using contemporary journal extracts, we follow Joshua Samuel Crompton and his travel companion William Blane on their journey down the east coast of Sicily in February 1825. Their ultimate destination was Malta, but en route they visited the ancient Greek and Roman sites of Catania and Taormina.… Read More Joshua Crompton’s travels through Sicily, 1825 – Part 1: Naples to Catania
Descriptions of the weather can be found in a wide variety of records held in the Record Office collections. In this blog, you can see examples from the past 350 years, ranging from impromptu remarks made in early diaries, travel journals and parish registers, through to the methodical, late-19th-century daily observations of lighthouse keepers and a 1920s sunshine recorder.… Read More Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not…
This post explores the creation of Select Vestries using minute books from the parishes of Sinnington and Marrick to give examples of their work in relation to poor relief.… Read More Sinnington and Marrick vestry minutes
An early-19th-century account book from the records of the Stapylton family of Myton Hall provides a fascinating insight into household expenditure from 1807-1814. In this blog, you can read about the types of payments that were being made for the running of the garden and stables, for food items such as fish and cheese, and other assorted purchases such as shaving soap, tobacco and hair cuts, as well as more unusual items including four goldfinches.… Read More Stapylton of Myton records: estate account books and rentals
The collection of records for the parish of Topcliffe is a particularly extensive and varied one. Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials exist from 1570 onwards for the church of St Columba. This blog features many of the other types of records you might hope to find for a parish, which survive for Topcliffe but, in many cases, do not survive for parishes elsewhere. … Read More Topcliffe Parish Records
Estate records within our collections often contain fascinating details about the lives of family members, who travelled and worked overseas. In this blog, we take a look at the papers of Lawrence Dundas, which shed light on travels and his career in India between 1917 and 1940. … Read More The papers of Lawrence Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland
Fragments of medieval music manuscripts have been found reused as the covers or linings of later books held in parish and estate collections here at the County Record Office. In this blog, you can find out more about the manuscripts themselves and the different types of notation and rubrics upon them.… Read More Medieval music: examples of manuscript fragments from our collections
North Yorkshire County Record Office 