Most Bedford residents may never have heard of it, but tucked behind County Hall, largely unheralded and unsung, is the County Record Office, a fascinating place for anyone with an interest in local history. It is truly a treasure-house, containing archives for the history of the County and its people. Here one can learn about the ordinary people as well as about the rich and famous. In fact, the Record office has information on almost any subject.
The reading room is open to anyone who wishes to obtain information from the archives. It is open between 9am and 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm Mondays to Fridays (except on Thursdays, when it is open at 10am). See Contact for further details.
Those who have used the facilities here comment upon the wealth of information which is available, and the enormous help provided by the staff. The documents themselves are preserved in specially designed strongrooms, where temperature and humidity are carefully controlled, but the staff are only too ready to get it out for an inquirer.
The variety of the data is enormous. I visited the centre with a view to looking at old photographs of Bedfordshire, but I also had the opportunity to see some very old documents.
Boring? Not a bit of it! There are fascinating stories to be unearthed. Here, for example, is part of a carefully written diary of a F. St. J. Orleybar, complete with some delightful watercolour sketches. This is dated 1860.
And here's a recipe book, dated 1761, in which the author describes in some detail how to pickle pidgeons (sic).