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During archaeological excavations (or even walking around footpaths between fields) around Worcester, it is not uncommon to find bits of clay pipes.  Used by men and women while working the pipe stems often broke as they were held in the owner’s teeth and while they were readily available from shops they were also sold in...

We are thrilled to announce that our service has retained its status as an Accredited Archive, after our recent application renewal and inspection visit by The National Archives. Accredited Archive Status was introduced by The National Archives in 2013. It is designed to check that an archive service is maintaining professional standards but also, most...

We have a wealth of resources here in our collections to help you research you family, house or local history. Where do you begin discovering how much there is, where it is and what’s online? We have a free 70 page guide which you can download which is the perfect starting point, wherever you are...

We’re proud to welcome our newest team member – a highly specialised archaeologist helping us meet the challenges of both the current climate and a particular site. Signs of an Iron Age settlement have recently been found during an excavation on the edge of Worcestershire.  Alongside a boundary ditch was a large cluster of storage...

Worcestershire archives have been used in a new project looking at 17th and 18th century petitions. It’s great to see our resources used in new ways and contribute to different research projects and we’ve enjoyed hearing about what they’ve been up to and reading some of the stories. ‘The Power of Petitioning in Seventeenth-Century England’...

A couple of years ago we ran Lost Landscapes, a project on Ice Age Worcestershire, along with Museums Worcestershire. Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England we drew together research and information on half a million years of history, from the time our first ancestors arrived until the end of the last...

In addition to the documents relating to William Shakespeare’s marriage, we also hold the will of his maternal Grandfather, Robert Arden. Again, as with the marriage bond, this is here because they needed to come to the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Worcester as Stratford upon Avon was in the Diocese. Robert was a...

Among the thousands of documents in the 12 miles of archives we hold, some stand out more than others, and Shakespeare’s marriage bond is one of these. Everyone has heard of William Shakespeare, but there is very little about him as a person in Stratford as opposed to his plays and literary life. Here in...

The new Archive Card reader’s ticket has now been launched and we will be issuing them at WAAS from next week, so head online to www.archivescard.com for more information and to sign up for yours today before you visit. For the last few years a new reader’s ticket scheme has been under development by the...

The life and work of internationally acclaimed artist and sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi was celebrated on 7th March, on what would have been his 96th birthday. Born in Leith, Scotland to Italian parents, Paolozzi moved to England in the 1950s. Widely considered a pioneer of pop art, he was influenced by the principles of Surrealism and...