Welcome to the Berkshire Record Office
We are closed to visitors until further notice, but you can still explore our web pages and Contact Us with your enquiries.
On this website you can discover more about our holdings and how to use us, as well as see some of the treasures from our collections.
Simply click on any of the links within the website to begin exploring Berkshire's past.
Part of our function is one of democratic accountability. We store the records of public authorities like councils, hospitals and courts, so that members of the public can see how decisions were made. We also have a cultural remit. We act as an historical memory of Berkshire, enabling research for business, leisure or scholarly interests. We were established in 1948, and are run as joint service for the six district councils that provide local services in Berkshire.
It was in 1939 that Berkshire County Council established a Berkshire Records Committee. Its job was to consider how to look after the many official and private records that were stored in the basement of the old Shire Hall in the Forbury, Reading.
The Clerk of the Council, Harold Neobard, was keen to employ an archivist. Over twenty shire counties had already established a County Record Office, and Mr Neobard wanted Berkshire to be next.
It was agreed to appoint an archivist by April 1940, but the Second World War intervened and it was only in August 1948 that Felix Hull started work as the first County Archivist. His temporary Record Office was in the caretaker's flat of the old Shire Hall.
More detail on the story of the Berkshire Record Office can be found by clicking here.
