Cheshire Archives to come to Crewe

Plans to transform the way in which Cheshire's archives are accessed and ensure they are preserved for future generations have taken a major leap forward following the go ahead from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies – a shared service of Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester Councils – looks after the county's unique and irreplaceable written and pictorial history and is driving forward plans to rehouse the archives in two new state-of-the-art history centres.
Today, it can be announced that The National Lottery Heritage Fund has agreed to provide funding to contribute towards the delivery of the new facilities in Chester and Crewe, which will replace the Cheshire Record Office, in Chester, and allow the service to better protect and share the historic records.

Planning applications for the two centres were recently submitted and decisions on the plans are expected to be made before spring.

If they are approved, the grant from the Heritage Fund of £4.45m, which has been made possible through money raised by National Lottery players, would allow for construction of the centres to go ahead.

The project, called 'Cheshire's archives: a story shared', would transform the way the archives service works and give local people greater access to the collections and opportunities to interact with them more easily – helping them to celebrate their personal and communities' histories.
There would also be an improved outreach and digital programme to extend access to the archives across Cheshire and further afield, better spaces for staff and volunteers to work with the collections, more spaces for research, performances and exhibitions, and opportunities to develop and exchange skills.

Councillor Jill Rhodes, lead for archives at Cheshire East Council, said: "Cheshire's archive collections date back more than 900 years and represent a unique and irreplaceable part of the county's heritage, coming from all walks of life including businesses, schools, hospitals and local clubs and organisations.

"This funding decision from The National Lottery Heritage Fund is a significant step towards being able to deliver two fantastic new facilities that will ensure the archives' long-term preservation, open them up to a whole new audience and allow them to be used in a way that has not been possible previously."

Locations for the centres have been identified at the site of the former Enterprise Centre, Hoole Road, Chester, and the site of Crewe's former library, next to Memorial Square.

Subject to planning permission, work to build the centres is currently expected to begin in autumn 2023 and finish in winter 2025.

About the Cheshire Archives

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies 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.

An Audlem photograph

One of the pictures with the Cheshire East Press Release about the new Archive centre, as an example of the kind of thing that is in the archives, is this 1890 Audlem Football team.
What a pity they were not available to go to Qatar, they would have been a sensation!