These are records created by families and individuals during the course of their everyday private and working lives. The range of archives kept by local families is varied and extensive. Typical records include diaries, wills, letters, photographs, pedigrees, genealogical notes, scrapbooks and household and personal accounts. They reflect many aspects of the personal, social, financial and business lives of the individuals and families concerned.
If family members served on local authorities or acted on behalf of parishes, schools, societies, charities and other official organisations then records relating to these activities may appear among family papers. Records relating to the business or industrial interests of particular individuals and families can also be found in these collections.
Families that owned property often kept title deeds to their estates and a variety of records relating to the agricultural management or commercial use of their land. These are estate records and usually include accounts, rentals, leases, valuations and plans. Manorial records may also be found amongst family papers or, more rarely, as a separate collection. Family, estate and personal records can also be found in solicitors' collections.
Some collections are not listed in detail and entries reflect the information available. Groups of records that have not been listed in detail may not necessarily be produced in the search room. Please check with the appropriate Archive Centre.
Links to online catalogues of holdings:
Aglionby family of the Nunnery, Armathwaite
Ainsworth family of the Flosh, Cleator and Harecroft Hall, Gosforth
James Askew, OBE, of Workington
Bagot family of Levens Hall. Privately held archive (no access available through Kendal Archive Centre). Please contact Levens Hall directly. Please note that the Levens MSS, Graham letters on microfilms JAC 343-346 and material regarding Sir Charles Bagot, Levens MSS on microfilms JAC 91-93 are available to view at Kendal Library.
Ballantine Dykes family of Dovenby Hall, Bridekirk
Benson-Harrison family of Ambleside and Ulverston
Biggins estate, Kirkby Lonsdale
Bigland family of Bigland Hall, Backbarrow
Blencow family of Blencow Hall, Greystoke
Blewithwaite estate, Cartmel Fell
Clara Boyle of Ambleside, writer (papers unlisted)
Braithwaite family of Kendal (papers unlisted)
Browne family of Townend, Troutbeck
Butler-Cole family of Eskmeals, Bootle
Carleton Cowper family of Carleton Hall, Penrith
Carus-Wilson family of Casterton
Chambre family (papers unlisted)
Collingwood family (correspondence between descendants of WG Collingwood)
Crackanthorpe family of Newbiggin
R S Crosfield, sometime chairman of Westmorland County Council (papers unlisted)
Curwen family of Workington Hall, Workington
Dalston-Ewbanke family of Stainmore
Mike Davies-Shiel, industrial archaeologist (see also WDX 1108, WDX 1220 at Kendal and DX 1158 at Carlisle)
Dent family of Flass, Maulds Meaburn
Dickinson family of Red How, Lamplugh
Dixon family of Rheda, Frizington
Ewart family of the Knowe, Bewcastle
Farrer family of Whitbarrow Lodge, Witherslack
Fletcher-Vane family, Lords Inglewood of Hutton, Hutton-in-the Forest
Gibson family of Whelprigg, Barbon
Graham family of Edmond Castle, Hayton
Graham family of Netherby Hall, Longtown
Graigner family of Ireby Grange, High Ireby
Joseph Hardman, photographer, of Kendal
Harrison-Beck family of Ravenstonedale
Thomas Coulthard Heysham, natural historian, of Carlisle
Howard family of Corby Castle, Great Corby
Howard family of Greystoke Castle, Greystoke
Sir Esme Howard (later Lord Howard of Penrith), diplomat
Hudleston family of Hutton John, Greystoke
Godfrey and Barbara Iredell of Woodlands, Braithwaite
James family of Barrock Park, Low Hesket
Eileen Jones - Personal papers concerning Ethel Hedley Hospital in the 1950s
Kennedy family of Crosby House, Crosby-on-Eden
Col. George Kinmont of Beacon Hill, Penrith
Lamplugh family of Lamplugh Hall, Lamplugh
Lawson family of Brayton Hall, Aspatria
Lewthwaite family of Broadgate, Thwaites, Millom (records at Barrow Archives)
Lewthwaite family of Broadgate, Thwaites, Millom (records at Whitehaven Archives)
Lowther family, Earls of Lonsdale
Catherine E Marshall, suffragist, pacifist and feminist, of Hawse End, Keswick
Metcalfe-Ginson family of Ravenstonedale
Mounsey-Heysham family of Castletown, Rockcliffe
Musgrave family of Eden Hall, Edenhall (records at Carlisle Archives)
Musgrave family of Eden Hall, Edenhall (records at Kendal Archives, part of Curwen Archives Trust)
John Musgrave, solicitor and businessman of Wasdale Hall, Netherwasdale
National Trust (records at Carlisle Archives)
National Trust (records at Kendal Archives)
Palmen family of Newbarns, Barrow-in-Furness
Parker family of Warwick Hall, Skirwith Abbey and Newbiggin Hall
Pattinson family of Cumberland
W H Pearsall, Professor of Botany
Pennington-Ramsden family of Muncaster Castle, Muncaster
H Proctor-Gregg, Emeritus Professor of Music, Manchester University and Windermere
Pumphrey family of Preston Patrick
Rickerby House estate, Rickerby, Carlisle
Rimington family of Tynefield House, Penrith
Robertson-Walker family of Gilgarran, Distington
Salkeld family of Hawkesdale Hall, Dalston
Senhouse family of Netherhall, Maryport
Patricius Senhouse of the Fitz, Cockermouth
William Tyson Shaw, mining engineer of Keswick
Sheffield family of Broadfield, Southwaite
Sherwen family of Gosforth and Eskdale
Stanley family of Dalegarth, Eskdale
Strickland family of Sizergh Castle. Privately held collection (no access available through Kendal Archive Centre).
Thexton and Yeats family of Beetham
Thompson family of Farlam Hall, Farlam
John Hall Thompson of Thompson's Board Mill, Little Salkeld
Underley Hall estate, Kirkby Lonsdale
Alfred Wainwright, guidebook author and illustrator
Warwick family of Warwick Hall, Warwick-on-Eden
Wilson family of Dallam Tower, Beetham
Harold Crewdson Wilson of Kendal
Wilson family of Rigmaden, Kirkby Lonsdale
Wyndham family, Earls of Egremont of Cockermouth Castle, Cockermouth. Privately held collection (no access available through Cumbria Archive Centres).