The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre has recently been officially recognised as providing one of the best archive services in the country. It was awarded a maximum four stars overall in an assessment by The National Archives, which acts as the government watchdog for archives. We are listed as seventh out of a total of 124 services in England and Wales.

See: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/self-assessment-results.htm for more details.

The assessment covers all aspects of the service, including preservation, cataloguing, answering enquiries, and our outreach and education work. The latter is vital for communicating with the public about how we can help them find out more about themselves, their families, and their local community. I was delighted to get involved with one example of this work this weekend – Highworth Historical Society invited me to attend their Elizabethan May Day celebrations on Saturday 30th April, and to bring along some original documents dating back to the lifetime of Elizabeth. There was a lot of interest shown, with over 110 people looking at material produced by the Society together with my little exhibition, which included a rental of the property of John Warneford, dating back to 1552. Warneford crops up repeatedly in documents held by both the History Centre and the National Archives at Kew – he was Lord of the Manor of Highworth from 1542, and, interestingly, was a plaintiff in a Star Chamber case, brought against Sir Anthony Hungerford for refusing to proceed against John Boller for abusing the churchwardens who took down the altar of Highworth church, and other contempts, 1547-1553.

 
May Day celebrations in Highworth

The photographs here show some members of the Society entering into the spirit of the day by getting dressed up in Elizabethan costume, as well as a group of morris dancers performing to large crowds in the market square.

See: http://highworthhistoricalsociety.co.uk/index.htm for more information about this society.

There are of course lots of local history societies throughout Wiltshire, which have carried out fascinating research into the history of properties and people in their area, using archives held at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and elsewhere. There is also an independent umbrella organisation called the Wiltshire Local History Forum which also holds twice-yearly events to promote cooperation between the various societies and share knowledge and skills. New members are always welcome and subscriptions are very reasonable - £10 a year as of 2011 – please contact me for more details.

 
Members of the Highworth Historical Society in Tudor costume

Last - but by no means least - I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to a member of the hard-working team at Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, who is retiring shortly. Andrew Crookston has worked as an archivist for Wiltshire Council and its predecessor, Wiltshire County Council, for over 40 years. He has enormous knowledge and understanding of our collections, particularly historic maps, and will be greatly missed. He retires on 16 May, and I am delighted that it is ‘au revoir’ rather than goodbye – Andrew has promised to return as a volunteer in due course.

Claire Skinner, Principal Archivist

Claire.skinner@wiltshire.gov.uk

01249 705500

If you have enjoyed this article, the following entries may also be of interest:

A Day in the Life of an Archivist

Local History and the art of Serendipity