November 2017 The Local Heritage Archive

The Local Heritage Archive, which is based in Hope Community library, has undergone a makeover which means those accessing the information should find it easier to find what they are looking for.

 I am indebted to an enthusiastic team of volunteers for doing the work needed to establish this archive. Thanks must go to Jane Tilston, Janis Gerken and Kate Williams for their invaluable assistance with this task. We have also worked closely with Flintshire Record Office who now have several of the original documents which were lodged with the archive.Stage one of the project involved sorting out an immense amount of miscellaneous material and getting it catalogued and put into folders. This took a great deal of volunteers’ time but it did enable the Local Heritage Archive to be officially launched earlier this year on 25th February.

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At this stage, however, it was apparent that, whist all the material was in folders, there was not a great deal of order to the material and virtually every folder was a ‘miscellaneous’ one consisting of a somewhat random selection of documents. It was therefore decided that the team would move to stage two of the project, which involved grouping the documents into files in a way which produced a degree of order from the chaos which existed.Now we have several folders which are devoted to particular themes. There are two folders devoted to local churches, chapels and religion, two folders containing material on Caergwrle Castle, a folder which includes information on Caergwrle Spa, one on Transport and Industry, one on the Packhorse Bridge and so forth.
Inevitably there is still a great deal of material which is grouped in ‘miscellaneous’ folders. However this material is now reduced in volume and it is easier for the researcher to see what is available. Two further folders have now been added to the collection. They contain hard copies of all of the ‘Our Heritage’ articles which have been written for Hope Parish Magazine going back to 2010 when they began. The Local Heritage Archive contains a considerable amount of material that what used in the compilation of A Ramble Around the Historic Village of Caergwrle and it is very good to hear that Pete Evans, author of Resurrection River – A 4,000-year walk along the River Alyn, also found material in the Archive which was helpful. Let us hope that future authors are able to tap into this resource in order to make the story of our heritage more assessable to the community.
The following guidelines for use of the Local Heritage Archive have been agreed by members of Hope Community Library:
1. Members of the public wishing to view files in the Local Heritage Archive should view the catalogue available at the main desk.
2. Single files can be requested and should not be removed from Hope Community Library.
3. Files should be returned to the main desk after use.
4. Only one file can be viewed by an individual at a time.
5. Any member of the public wishing to donate items to the Local Heritage Archive should contact the Archive Officer and complete a form which includes contact details and a description of the item involved.
6. Items are considered to be on loan to the Local Heritage Archive and should be returned to the owner upon request.
7. The Local Heritage Archive can only accept items which are documents, not artefacts.
8. Contact details of the Archive Officer are given at the end of this article.
Hope Community Library is open to the public on
Monday 9:30am – 12:30pm, 3pm – 7pm
Tuesday & Wednesday 9:30am – 12.30pm
Saturday 10am -12 noon
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the policy of Flintshire County Council. Readers are welcome to contact the author with any news or views on the local heritage at [email protected] or by telephoning 01978 761 523.

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