Worcester City Collection
The Worcester City Archive contains five hundred years of documents relating to all aspects of Worcester. Between 2008 and 2012 the Heritage Lottery Fund funded dedicated staff to produce an online catalogue, exhibitions and educational resources.
Our project partners were the University of Worcester, Worcester City Council, and the City and County Archaeology Services.
The Worcester Archive Source Project ended on 31st March, 2012. The Worcester City Collection is now fully catalogued and available to search in our online catalogue, which can be accessed via the following link: e-services.worcestershire.gov.uk/CalmView
About the collection
Running to almost 1,500 boxes of documents and hundreds of volumes, maps and plans, the Worcester City Archives is one of the largest collections held by Worcestershire Archive Service, and a huge source of virtually untapped information.
The Corporation that ran Worcester was the forerunner to today’s modern City Council.
There are two distinct types of records
Those relating to the to the running of the council:
- Liber Recorda
- Ledgers
- Rate Books
- Financial Records
- Committee Minutes
- Recognisance Books
- Deeds
- Court Books
- Chamber Order Books
- Quarter Sessions Records
- Charters, Acts and By-laws
- Elections
Those relating to the running of the city:
- Charities
- Markets and Fairs
- Poor Law
- Education
- Gas
- Electricity
- Public Health
- Railways
- Pitchcroft
- Militia
- Freemen Lists
- Frankpledge
- The Worcester Bridge
- Turnpikes
- The Canal
- The River Severn
- Civil Defence
- Gaol
- Lunatic Asylum
- Sewerage
A small number of records have access restrictions either due to their fragile condition, or under the Data Protection Act.