Shropshire Council website

This is the website of Shropshire Council

Contact information

E-mail

customer.service@shropshire.gov.uk

Telephone

0345 678 9000

Postal Address

Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6ND

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Visiting Shropshire Archives

Photograph of Shropshire Archives building

Normal opening hours

  • Monday: closed
  • Tuesday: closed
  • Wednesday: 10am-5pm
  • Thursday: 10am-8pm (for visits after 5pm, please read further information)
  • Friday: 10am-5pm
  • Saturday: 10am-4pm (advance orders for original items)
  • Sunday: closed

Thursday evening visits

From April 2013 we will be running some short introductions to documents at Shropshire Archives. These sessions will be held in our Search Room on Thursday evenings, so on the 1st, 3rd (and 5th)Thursday in each month, access to original documents will stop at 5pm. The Reading Room will remain open as normal.

On the 2nd and 4th Thursdays, both the Search Room and the Reading Room will be open as normal, but advance orders only for the Search Room after 5.00pm please.

The introduction sessions will cover topics such as records of poor relief, Quarter Sessions, the Powis and Attingham collections and much more. There will be a small fee. For details, please visit our events page, Facebook site or contact us.

On Thursday 13th June there will be the Friends of Shropshire Archives AGM so both the Reading Room and Search Room will close at 5pm.

Viewing original documents

You will need a Shropshire Archives reader's ticket to consult original documents, photographs, electoral registers etc. To find out more please follow the link on this page.

On Thursday evenings and Saturdays, you will need to order documents in advance. There are also restrictions on production of original materials between 12pm and 1pm.

A few documents are held off site so you will need to request these in advance. For more information, please visit our Advance booking and document ordering page.

Occasionally, access to some documents may be restricted due to fragility of the originals, the nature of information contained in them or if restrictions have been applied by the owner. In particular, if you would like to view documents less than 100 years old (or more for particularly sensitive records), requests should be made in advance of your visit and preferably in writing. Please see our 'Restricted Access Guidelines' on the Shropshire Archives’ Service Standards page for further guidance.

Access for people with disabilities

There are two parking spaces for people with disabilities at the Castle Gates
entrance. Please contact us in advance to book a space.

Inside, all public areas, including the toilets, are accessible to wheelchairs.

A hearing loop is installed.

We have a “clear star viewer” which uses CCTV technology to
enlarge pages from printed books for you. We also have a hand-held video magnifier, which you can use with documents and maps in our Search Room.

Our free guides to sources are all available in large text - please ask staff for details.

In some instances, we can also arrange one-to-one orientation tours to help on your first visit. Please do contact us in advance about this or if you want to discuss anything else before you visit.

Local history centres

If you are unable to visit us in Shrewsbury, our local history centres might be useful. These are located in some libraries across the county.

Finding us

Please follow the link to the Google map. We are on Castle Gates, just up the hill from the Railway Station. Walking up Castle Gates from the station, find us on the right hand side of the road through an archway marked 'Blowers Repository'. This comes after the last shop front (housing Connexions) and before the stone wall leading round to the Library.

Find out more

For more information please download the Visiting Archives leaflet on this page.

Online services and downloads

Contact

Archives
01743 255350
Shropshire Council
Economic Growth and Prosperity
Shropshire Archives, Castle Gates
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY1 2AQ
Last updated 23 April 2013 Print this page

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