West Sussex Record Office

19/08/2026

📷 Today is World Photography Day and here we are giving you a sneak peak at an upcoming blog post topic. Since the Humphrey Photographic Archive was digitised last year, our Searchroom Archivist has been researching some early editing techniques of glass plate negatives. This is an example of the amateur photographer, Edward Humphrey, creating flames on this negative of a blacksmith at work. Although it not the most seamless edit, it is rather effective!

08/08/2026

🐈️ Today is and we have been waiting patiently to share this photograph since the Wardell collection was digitised in last year's Collections Care Fortnight!

06/08/2026

📣 New blog post alert! This blog will explore the lives of some of the girls and women of St Margaret’s Convent through their archive.

By Alice Millard, Archivist This blog will explore the lives of some of the girls and women of St Margaret’s Convent through their archive. The Sisters of St Margaret were originally founded to nur…

30/07/2026

👫 Today is the International Day of Friendship. Here we have two friends, Jack and Kath, being photographed on the Pilgrims Way in about 1929

27/07/2026

🗺️ This is a map of Tangmere from c1820 showing a plan of Mr Bridger's, Mr Williams' and Mrs. Upton's land in and around the village.

22/07/2026

🏠️ We have recently updated our restrictions on copying building plans. We now allow copies to be made for private research purposes! This means that if you come across plans of your house, and you would like a picture up on your walls, you can! This complements our continued efforts to list all of our building plans too.

* Please note that there still are restrictions on publishing, and it is best to contact us about this *

Explore Your Archive

19/07/2026

🏆️⚽️ Today is the World Cup Final! Sad to not see England in the final though! But this photograph is from our Chichester Photographic Services collection. It is of Chichester Football Club's first match of the season in August 1963. Feels rather atmospheric with the cathedral spire watching over!

17/07/2026

Comparing watercolours of Chichester Cathedral from the Bishop's Palace Garden and St Richard's Walk painted in the 1870s to photographs taken in 2026.
🎨 - These watercolours by Julia Henty are part of a larger volume of paintings of views from around Chichester.
📷 - photographs taken by the Searchroom Archivist

16/07/2026

📣 New blog post alert! Another instalment in our Three Collections series. Find out what volunteers have catalogued recently around the themes of designing, changing and posting.

By Nick Corbo-Stewart, Archivist and Volunteer Coordinator In this series of blogs looking at new collections at West Sussex Record Office (WSRO), I will continue to guide you, the reader, through …

13/07/2026

🗺️ This decorated map is of the Manor of Woolborough in the parish of Worth. The date of this map is unknown and what we have recorded on our catalogue entry is limited. This map is catalogued within Add Mss 47655-47669 and this item is titled "Deeds to Oakendene Estate as above".