County Library and Information Service
Community History
Guide to the Local Collections
Lancaster Collection
Lancaster District.
Lancaster Library
Market Square
Lancaster
Lancashire
LA1 1HY
Tel: 01524 580700
Fax:--
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
09:00 - 17:00
09:00 - 19:00
09:00 - 17:00
09:00 - 19:00
09:00 - 17:00
09:00 - 16:00
4. Scope and arrangement of the collection
The collection comprises books, pamphlets, photographs, newspapers and microforms. Public access is limited but material can be produced on request. There may be delays in producing some manuscript material.
5. Catalogues and bibliographies
The Local Studies catalogue is available as part of the Lancashire County Library and Information Service’s Talis online catalogue. It is possible to search by author, title, keyword, subject and class number.
There are over one hundred, some being photocopies of the Lancaster section of national directories. They date from the eighteenth century to the 1970s, though many years are not covered. There are a number of Lancashire directories and a few for Cumberland and Westmoreland. Recent telephone directories are held.
Directories can be found on the Library’s online catalogue.
7. Electoral registers and poll books
Lancaster only, until very recent years; Lancaster lists commence 1784, the frequency held being one every few years to 1842; 1842 - 1887 almost complete; 1888 - 1908 not in stock 1834 - 1837 for Amounderness, Leyland, Blackburn and Lonsdale.
Valuations from 1710 - 1736.
Rentals from c.1790 to the early 19th century. Rentals include sporadic estate and parish rentals for neighbouring villages.
The main collection of rate books for the county is held at the Lancashire Record Office.
9. Census enumerators' returns
The returns for 1841 - 1901 for Lancaster District are held. The 1841 returns include Fulwood, Preesall, Stalmine and Furness.
The 1891 returns include Bentham, Ingleton, Clapham, Burton-in-Lonsdale and Thornton-in-Lonsdale.
Access to Ancestry.library is available in libraries.
Microfiche copies of parish registers for Lancashire up to 1900.
LANCASHIRE PARISH REGISTER SOCIETY SERIES No. 1- , 1898 -
CATHOLIC RECORD SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS Vol. 1- , 1905 -
This series includes a number of register transcripts.
The main collection of parish records for the county is held at the Lancashire Record Office.
Lancaster City Reporter. 1990. Microfilmed.
Lancaster Gazette 1801 - 1893. Incomplete file. Indexed 1801 - 1806, 1808, 1809, 1811 - 1813, 1826, 1835 - 1836, 1838 - 1839, 1850 - 1851, 1855, 1863. Microfilmed 1801 - 1893.
Lancaster Guardian 1837 - 2008. Incomplete file. Indexed 1840 - 1849, 1856 - 1861, 1870 - 1880, 1940 - 1950, 1952 - 1958, 1973 to date, and other years sporadically. Microfilmed. Microfilming of the previous year's issues now takes place annually.
Lancaster Herald 1831 - 1832. Not indexed. Microfilmed.
Lancaster Mail 1909 - 1911. Not indexed. Microfilmed.
Lancaster Observer 1860 - 1944. Incomplete file. Indexed 1926, 1930. Microfilmed June 1860 - June 1861, 1875 - 6, 1896-7, 1903, 1910-12, 1914-15, 1926-27, 1929.
Lancaster Standard 1893 - 1907. Not indexed. Microfilmed.
Lancaster Times 1892 - 1897. Indexed 1894. Microfilmed.
The early Lancaster newspapers cover national as well as north-west regional news.
A newspaper index is in progress from 1801.
An index to holdings of North West newspapers is available on the Museums, Libraries and Archives website.
Lancashire Lantern includes an index to stories from local newspapers covering several areas of the county.
Periodicals
LAKELAND DIALECT SOCIETY. Journal, 1939 -
Lakeland rambler 1939, 1949 - 74 (imperfect).
Lancashire archaeological bulletin No. 1- , 1975 -
LANCASHIRE DIALECT SOCIETY. Journal, 1951 -
Lancashire life 1947 -
Lancashire magazine 1977 -
Serials
CAMDEN SOCIETY. Publications, 1909 - 37.
CATHOLIC RECORD SOCIETY. Transactions, Vol 1- , 1905 -
CHETHAM SOCIETY. Remains....., Vol 1- , 1844 - , including index to the Old Series.
HISTORIC SOCIETY OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE. Proceedings, Vol 1- , 1848 - 1854, and Transactions, 1854 - . Separate index to the first fifty volumes.
LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. Transactions, Vol 1- , 1883 -
There is a large collection of maps, a few of which are in photocopy form. They include estate maps (18th century onwards), small scale county maps (from 1610 onwards), maps accompanying sale catalogues (19th century onwards), tithe and enclosure maps and the published sheets of the second Land Use Survey.
Ordnance Survey Most of Lancaster District is covered by the holdings of 6" to 1 mile maps (mid-1840's onwards), and there is a more scattered coverage in larger scale O.S. sheets. From 1848 there are some sheets of an O.S. series on the scale of 1" to 88'.
14. Council minutes and minutes of official bodies
LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL. County Palatine. Proceedings (Accounts), 1820 - 1845.
LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL. County Palatine. Treasurer's Accounts, 1818 -1819.
LANCASTER BOROUGH COUNCIL. Education Committee, Minutes 1903 - 1966.
LANCASTER CITY COUNCIL. Abstract of accounts, 1864 -
LANCASTER CITY COUNCIL. Minutes, 1891 -
The collection includes photographs, prints, postcards, some paintings and drawings, old glass negatives and glass slides, and aerial photographs. The collection is not indexed.
The Library is currently developing an online database of photographs from the county’s various library collections; this is available as part of Lancashire Lantern.
16. Sound and video recordings
The main repository of archives for the county is held at the Lancashire Record Office.
Street index to the census enumerators' returns.
Index of parishes in the Lancashire Parish Register Society series.
Index to apprentice registers. Most of the registers have a manuscript index. Apprentices' names completely indexed.
Microfilm/fiche readers and printer, Internet enabled computers.
21. Books useful as introductory reading
(A) Lancaster
CHIPPINDALL, W.H. History of the township of Ireby. Chetham Society, (2nd series). Vol. 95, 1935.
CHIPPINDALL, W.H. History of the Parish of Tunstall, Chetham Society, (2nd series). Vol. 104, 1940.
CHIPPINDALL, W.H. History of the township of Gressingham. Kendal: Wilson.
CHIPPINDALL, W.H. History of Whittington. Chetham Society. (2nd series). Vol. 99, 1938.
CONSTANTINE, Stephen (and others): A History of Lancaster 1193-1993, edited by A. White. Ryburn, 1993.
"CROSS FLEURY" Time honoured Lancaster. Lancaster: Eaton, 1891.
HARRIS, A. Carnforth, 1840 - 1900. Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. Vol. 112, 1961.
HASTINGS, S.L. Annals of the Parish of Halton. 1900.
HEWITSON, A. Northward. Preston: Toulmin, 1900 (covers the area from the south boundary of Lancaster southwards).
JANES, D. Lancaster. Dalesman, 1974.
LUCAS, John. History of Warton Parish, compiled 1710 - 1740. Kendal: Wilson, 1931 (covers the old extended parish).
ROPER, W.O. Lancaster and English history. (Volume of articles originally published in Transactions of Lancaster Philosophical Society 1885 - 1893.)
ROPER, W.O. Materials for the history of Lancaster. Part 1, Chetham Society, Vol. 61. (2nd series), 1907. Part 2, Chetham Society, Vol. 62. (2nd series), 1907.
SCHOFIELD, M.M. Outlines of an economic history of Lancaster 1680-1860. Historical Association: Lancaster Branch, 1946.
SHAW, R.L. Royal forest of Lancaster. Preston, printed by the Guardian Press, 1956.
STOUT, William. Autobiography. Edited by J.D. Marshall. Chetham Society, Vol. 14 (3rd series), 1967.
VICTORIA history of the county of Lancaster. Vol.8. Constable, 1914.
WHITE, A. Lancaster: a pictorial history. Phillimore, 1990.
(B) Cumbria
BARBER, H. Furness and Cartmel notes. Ulverston: Atkinson, 1894.
BECK, T.A. Annales Furnesienses (History and antiquities of the abbey of Furness). Payne, 1844.
BELLASIS, E. Westmorland Church Notes. 2 Vols. Kendal: Wilson, 1888 - 1889.
HUDDLESTON, C.R. Cumberland families and heraldry, with a supplement to An armorial for Westmorland and Lonsdale. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 1978.
HUTCHINSON, W. and JOLLIE, F. History of the county of Cumberland. 2 vols. Carlisle: Jollie, 1794.
MARSHALL, J.D. Industrial archaeology of the Lake Counties. 2nd ed. Beckermet: Moon, 1977.
MILLWARD, R. Cumbria. (Landscapes of Britain Series). Macmillan, 1972.
NICOLSON, J. et al. History and antiquities of the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. 2 Vols. Strahan, 1777. Index to the above by H. Hornyold - Strickland. Kendal: Wilson, 1934.
RICHARDSON, J. Furness past and present. 2 Vols. Barrow: Richardson, 1880. ROYAL COMMISSION ON HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS, England. An inventory of the historical monuments in Westmorland. 1936.
VICTORIA history of the county of Cumberland. 2 vols, Constable, 1901 and 1905. WEST, T. Antiquities of Furness. Spilsbury, 1774.
WESTMORLAND notebook. Vol. 1. 1888 - 1889. Kendal: Gill.
Includes Westmorland Natural History Record, (quarterly), March 1888 to December 1889.
WHELLAN, W. History and topography of the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. Pontefract: Whellan, 1860.
(C) Lancashire
BAINES, E. History, directory and gazetteer of the County Palatine of Lancaster. Liverpool: William Wales, 1824 - 1825.
BAINES, E. History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. Edited by James Croston. 5 Vols. 1888 - 1893.
COLLINS, H.C. Lancashire plain and seaboard. Dent, 1953.
CORRY, J. History of Lancashire. 2 vols. Whittaker, 1825.
GREGSON, M. Portfolio of fragments relative to the history and antiquities of the Duchy of Lancaster. Liverpool, 1824.
HADFIELD, C. and BIDDLE, G. Canals of north west England. 2 vols. David & Charles, 1970.
HARLAND, J. Ballads and songs of Lancashire. Routledge, 1875.
HARLAND, J. Lancashire legend. Routledge, 1873.
SOMERVILLE, R. History of the Duchy of Lancaster. Vol. 1. 1265 - 1603. Duchy of Lancaster, 1953.
TAYLOR, Henry. Ancient crosses and holy wells of Lancashire. Manchester: Sherratt, 1906.
TWYCROSS, E. Mansions of England and Wales; County Palatine of Lancaster. 3 Vols. Ackermann, 1847.
VICTORIA history of the county of Lancaster. 8 vols. Constable, 1906 - 1914.
WADSWORTH, A.P. et al. Cotton trade and industrial Lancashire, 1600 - 1780. Manchester University Press, 1931. Reprint 1965.
22. Other Family History Sources
All our libraries provide free access to the Ancestry website which gives access to Census Records for England, Wales and Scotland 1841-1901) and indexes to Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales (1837-2005).