Antiquarian and Artificial Collections

This section comprises records produced or collected by private persons and institutions with an interest in local history and genealogy. The entries include name of collection, places most commonly occurring in the records, and a broad indication of the records that feature most prominently, e.g. estate papers, family papers, etc. A particular note is also made of more unusual material, with covering dates where possible. Overall covering dates and a reference for the collection are also given. The presence of documents relating to manors is indicated both in the text and by * against the place(s) concerned.

Some collections are not listed in detail and entries reflect available information. Groups of records that have not been listed in detail may not necessarily be produced in the search room. In these cases, please check with the Archives Centre about your interest.

The Borrowdale Story
Digital collection, 2018

DR JW Crerar, Antiquarian of Maryport
Maryport; local history; 1819-1951.

Cumbria Family History Society
[Pedigrees etc. for Askew, Fleming, Gainford, Handley, Langhorne and Mounsey families; monumental inscriptions for St John's Church, Firbank and St Cuthbert's, Kentmere; 20th century].

Curwen of Kendal
Kendal and historic county of Westmorland; antiquarian papers of J. F. Curwen, architect and antiquary, including notes, posters, photographs, newscuttings (18th-20th centuries), personal/official papers as No. 3 Area Director, Air Raid Precautions (1938-1945), family papers (17th-20th centuries), Curwen library (comprising printed volumes of local history and topography) 17th-20th centuries.

Curwen Archives Trust
Crosthwaite and Lyth, Kendal, Maulds Meaburn, Furness and Cartmel area, and elsewhere in Cumbria. Includes family and personal papers of Dent family of Flass (17th-20th centuries), William Hogarth of Clifton (1818-1838), Hornby family of Dalton Hall (1848-1859), John Hutton, vicar of Burton-in-Kendal (1764-1823), Revd M Monkhouse, Ubarrow Hall, Longsleddale (1761-1790), Musgrave family of Edenhall (14th-19th centuries); Westmorland subsidy roll (1641), Kendal Parish Church Restoration (1860s), Sedgwick gunpowder works (1859), volumes of photographs by H. Bell entitled Early Domestic and Military Architecture in Westmorland (1907).
Related collection: John Hutton of Burton in Kendal (WDX 558)
Related collection: William Hogarth of Clifton (WDX 582)

Mike Davies-Shiel collection
Research notes relating to industrial archaeology, mills, and slide collection, Kendal area, 1960-2017

WP Dobson of Milnthorpe
Beetham, Hugill, Kendal and Milnthorpe; miscellaneous collected documents,1704-c1974, including papers concerning local government, health and water services in Westmorland, Cumberland and the North West (1866-1974); Beetham parish vestry minute book (1838-1894).
Related collection: Sewart of Hugill (WDX 23)

Dr TG Fahy of Patton
Genealogical research papers and photographs regarding Westmorland families and properties including Patton and Shepherd families of Shaw End, Patton, c.18th-20th centuries; Patton tithe assessment book 1841-1975. Not listed.

Ellen Rose Fieldhouse
Kirkby Ireleth; scrapbooks, booklets, tape recordings, printed pamphlets, photographs etc, of local interest (including dialect); 19th-20th centuries.

John Fleming of Ulpha
[Manuscript notes on history of Fleming family] Related collection: Fleming family pedigree (WDX 547)
Library of books collected by John Fleming (1900-1987) relating to Lake District, Westmorland, Cumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire and other counties, local history, family history, heraldry, English and European history, biography and natural history (Kendal Archives).

Friends of Cumbria Archives
Kirkby Stephen, Patterdale, Penrith and elsewhere in Cumbria; Musgrave of Edenhall estate letters and cashbook [1728-1815]. Not listed.

Furness collection
Barrow and Furness area; a diverse compilation of local books and documents originally assembled by Barrow Central Library including inquisition for wapentake of Lonsdale (1342), Backbarrow Iron Company journals (1711-1801), local iron workings leases (c.1720-1800), sketch books of George Romney, painter, with associated correspondence (1770-1801), selected legal papers re: local cases heard at Ulverston Petty Sessions or Lancaster Quarter Sessions (c.1842-1887), liquor licenses (1850-1881), Piel Island Hotel visitors' books (1856-1941), crew lists and agreements from Port of Barrow (incomplete) (c.1860-1913), Furness Railway correspondence and printed ephemera (19th century), mining plans (19th-20th centuries), building plans, local parliamentary acts and maps (19th-20th centuries), Amos Beardsley's Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society scrapbooks (1868-1886), correspondence and papers of local historians F Barnes, Harper Gaythorpe, JL Hobbs, WB Kendall, PV Kelly and J Melville (20th century), stray items from local parish chests, etc; 17th-20th centuries.

JM Hammond, Railway Historian
Arnside, Bardsea, Barrow, Cockermouth, Coniston, Dalton, Hincaster, Keswick, Mirehouse, Moor Row, Penrith, Sellafield and Whitehaven in Cumbria, Carnforth in Lancashire; railway bridge plans, 1845-1963.

Daniel Hay Collection
Whitehaven and Copeland area; a diverse collection of documents and printed material originally assembled by the Daniel Hay Library, Whitehaven including stray records from local businesses, churches, collieries, local authorities, schools, societies, and the Lowther family's Whitehaven estate (18th-19th centuries), building plans, newspaper cuttings books, Santon manor court and general fine books (1688-1928), diary of John Bragg of Whitehaven (1771-1794), minute books and other records of Whitehaven Town and Harbour Trustees (1812-1891), pamphlets of Whitehaven Trades Union Newsroom (1825-1832), chapbooks and broadsides of Joseph Hodgson of Whitehaven (1830-1875), meteorological observations of John Fletcher Miller of Whitehaven (1832-1854), records of West Cumberland Rifle Brigade and Whitehaven Artillery Corps (Volunteer) (1859-1860), records of Whitehaven Public Library (1868-1963), minute books of Whitehaven Local Board of Health (1881-1894), miscellaneous ships' records (19th century), papers and correspondence relating to Eskmeals Gunnery Range application (1932-1933), Whitehaven Rolls of Honour (World Wars I and II), records of Whitehaven Citizens' Advice Bureau (1940-1948), transcript of THORP reprocessing plant public enquiry (1977), papers relating to the Egremont by-pass (1989-1990).

GN Higgin, Heraldic Artist and DL Higgin, Embroideress of Kendal
[Papers and pamphlets, library of heraldry, peerage and local history books, c19th-20th centuries]. Not listed.

Peter Jackson collection
Letters of George Robinson, surveyor and Bridge master of Appleby 1841-1868; Miscellaneous documents relating to Westmorland 17th-19th century; 19th century letters, mainly of Kendal 1790-1881; Miscellaneous Cumberland documents 1852-1897.

JS Jowett
[Books, pamphlets and other papers of antiquarian interest; c19th-20th centuries]. Not listed.

Kendal Library (at Kendal Archive Centre, ref WDK)
Crosthwaite (Westmorland), Heversham, Holme, Hugill, Kendal, Levens, Longsleddale, Rydal, Staveley (Westmorland) and elsewhere in Cumbria; official records (Cordwainers' Company memoranda book (1641-1710), coroner's depositions for Westmorland (1835-1841), business records (Isaac Braithwaite and Sons, drysalters of Kendal (1856-1859), Holme Flax Mills (1848-1864), Joseph Maude of Sunderland and Kendal, coal fitter and banker (1761-1801), Whitaker and Co., colour works, Kendal (1919-1947), Isaac Wilson and Son, woollen manufacturers (1774-1776), personal records (Atkinson of Applethwaite (1699-1724), Sir Daniel Fleming's books (1628-1677), John Gough of Kendal (1800-1816), Joseph Martindale of Staveley (1853-1897), Jonathan Otley (1799-1854), Adam Sedgwick of Dent (1829-1876)), Whitwell (13th-20th centuries), society records (Kendal Christian and Literary Institute (1869-1894), Kendal Coffee and Newsroom (1779-1897), Kendal Literary and Scientific Institute (1841-1913), Kendal Mechanics Institute (1868-1874), Kendal Natural History and Scientific Society (1835-1901)), and other miscellaneous records; 17th-20th centuries.

Lakeland Arts
Diverse papers mainly concerning the history of Kendal, such as Kendal Mechanics' Institute, windmill, banks and schools.

Lancashire Record Office
Askham, Bolton (Westmorland), Casterton, Crosthwaite, Great Langdale, Heversham, Kendal, Natland, Ravenstonedale, Temple Sowerby; title deeds, miscellaneous papers, Cartmell family of Crosthwaite (1832-1883), Kendal Weekly Courant/Mercury (1736-1741), journal of a visit to Westmorland and Furness (1818); 16th-20th centuries.

J Milbourn, Record Collector of Brunstock House, Brunstock
Brampton, Carlisle, 18th-20th centuries; Hallaway's chemists of Carlisle (1858-1936), records of local solicitors,(Bendle, Sibson and Davidson (1775-1949), Carrick and Lee (1839-1931), Cartmells (1810-1936), Mounsey Bowman and Sutcliffe (1724-1957))

North Lonsdale Field Club, Ulverston
Society's own administrative records (1907-1940), posters, handbills, photographs, religious souvenirs, printed ephemera, 18th-20th centuries.

John Soulby, Jobbing Printer, Ulverston (reference Z/S)
Broughton-in-Furness, Cartmel, Kendal and Kirkby Lonsdale in Cumbria, Lancaster and Preston in Lancashire, Manchester, Liverpool, London and elsewhere; notices, handbills, trade cards and advertising ephemera printed by John Soulby, G Ashburner, H Walmsley and others; 1792-1894. Also on microfilm.

Bruce Thompson of Troutbeck
Ambleside, Coniston, Mardale, Thirlmere, Windermere and elsewhere in Cumbria; title deeds, personal papers, Canon H Rawnsley (1875-1940), notes, photographs, printed works, etc. relating to churches and other buildings, families, topics, events, etc; 1681-1975 .
Related collection: B L Thompson Collection (WDX 422)