Accessing our Family History Resources

You can search our catalogue either by using our People Index or searching the Millers and Millwrights Database.

The People Index lists individuals who have a connection with material in the archive, for example when they are the subject of an article or photograph
The Millers and Millwrights is a more comprehensive listing of individuals connected with the milling trade, whether or not we have any archive records

To use the search facility and inspect the catalogue in detail, you need to register and select a password. You can do this here.

Family history research will also be possible by visiting the Archive’s offices and library, where we have a large collection of books, newsletters and journals that may contain information of relevance. Although we will welcome visitors they must make an appointment, as we are totally dependent on volunteer cataloguers/custodians. We offer a fee-based research service for those unable to make the journey.

The Millers & Millwrights Database

Photographs, Correspondence and Other Documents

Family historians and mill researchers are fortunate in being given access to the extensive database assembled by Mary Yoward, with help from her husband Tony. They have been collecting data on millers and millwrights and entering them on computer for almost 20 years. The late Eve Logan, another assiduous compiler of information on millers and millwrights, found ill health prevented her continuing with her Millers Index, so in 2000, before her sad death, she gave Mary over 30 bulging lever-arch files of information to add to her own.

All our records are carefully indexed as they are catalogued. It is not possible to view uncatalogued material, although if you are interested in helping us catalogue, we would be pleased to hear from you.

In such a large collection there are many leads for the family historian. We have various pictures of millers and millwrights working and posing for the camera.