Welcome
Welcome to the Winter 2025-2026 edition of the East Riding Archives e-newsletter!
In this issue:
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News & Projects- Archives have re-opened; East Yorkshire Parish Registers Now on Ancestry; Emily's Week in Archives.
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What's On?- 'Happy Holidays' Pop-Up Archive and Museum Event; 'Photo Finish' Exhibition; 'Cześć, to my!' Exhibition; 'Building the East Riding' Exhibition; Goole 200 has Launched; Top of the Wolds.
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Collections spotlight- 6000+ Bridlington Building Plans Newly Catalogued; Carltons of Bridlington
Best wishes from the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Team.
archives.service@eastriding.gov.uk / 01482 392792
News & Projects
Archives have re-opened
 The Archives are pleased to announce that, as of Friday 16 January, we are fully reopen to visitors at the Champney Treasure House in Beverley. The public toilets and lift are also available for use.
In December, the Champney Treasure House experienced an unexpected full power outage, resulting in significant disruption to our usual services over the Christmas period. This impacted all services in the building.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused, and thank you for your patience and understanding throughout this time. We look forward to welcoming you all back into the research room.
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East Yorkshire parish registers now online on Ancestry
 From early February, a major collection of East Yorkshire parish registers will be available online via Ancestry, following a digitisation project delivered in partnership with Ancestry.
The collection includes baptism, marriage and burial registers, with some dating back to 1538. In total, 2,550 volumes were digitised, creating 389,546 images. The work was carried out by Ancestry digitisation operative and Archives Assistant, Olivia.
The records will be available to Ancestry subscribers worldwide and free to access onsite in the Archives searchroom and local library branches.
Key links:
- East Riding, Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812
- East Riding, Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1925
- East Riding, Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1950
- East Riding, Yorkshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-2000
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Emily's Week in Archives
 Image: Emily helps Archivist Hannah and Curator Sally with the pop-up collections event on the 11th November 2025.
Emily reflects on her work placement at the East Riding Archives undertaken November 2025:
As a sixth form student who is going on to do a degree in history, I came across a work experience programme here at the archives when looking for things to include in my personal statement. In my week here the archives staff have been absolutely brilliant and I have found everyone to be so friendly and helpful.
I have done all sorts, from repairing paper to helping with a remembrance day pop up and, along the way, I have learned so much about my local history. One of the most exciting things was getting to search the strong rooms like a historical detective to help with a family history enquiry. It turns out being an archivist is quite a work out, involving wheeling the shelves and carrying heavy books!
The sheer amount of East Riding history that the archive contains is amazing! After learning about Tudor history in school it was so cool to see in person documents from the time period (including a beautifully decorated grant from Queen Elizabeth I). I highly recommend for anyone interested in history to come visit the archives and I encourage those my age in the local area interested in a history degree / career to come do work experience here too.
The things I have learned like handling historical documents, researching, using the databases and interacting with the public are going to be so useful during my degree and I’ve learned skills I could use anywhere in the future. Most of all though I have had an amazing time and have really enjoyed myself!
Well done Emily and we wish you the best of luck in your career!
What's On?
Happy Holidays: Pop-Up Archive & Museum Event
at Champney Treasure House, Beverley, Friday 6 February, 10am-3:30pm
 Image: Bright, Breezy and Bracing Bridlington illustration (cropped), from East Riding Museums ref ERYMS 1996-355.
On Friday 6th February 2026, drop by the first floor of the Champney Treasure House to explore our exclusive one-day display of archive documents and museum artefacts from the East Riding collections, all themed around ‘holidays’. Our Archivist and Museum Curator will be on hand to answer your questions and share fascinating insights into the collections.
This is the perfect time of year to start thinking about getting out and about- why not take inspiration from the past? Come along and discover how holidays have changed over the years, and perhaps spark ideas for your next adventure.
Free entry, drop-in. All welcome!
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Exhibition:
'Photo Finish- A Year at Beverley Races'
at Champney Treasure House, Saturday 14 February - Saturday 6 June 2026
 Image: Photograph by The People, included in the exhibition. Courtesy of East Riding Museums.
Content from East Riding Archives features in the new Champney Treasure House Museum exhibition Photo Finish: A Year at Beverley Races. One of the documents on display dates from 1793 and announces that a race will be run on Beverley Westwood with prize money of fifty pounds (around £6000 in today’s money). A Main of Cocks (cockfight) was to take place every morning of the races between the "Gentlemen of Hull" and "Gentlemen of the East Riding".
The exhibition focuses on the work of seven regional photographers known as The People who in 2024 set out to record a year of action at Beverley Racecourse. The images capture the excitement of the crowds, the behind-the-scenes work of the stewards, vets and caterers and the stars of the show - the horses and jockeys. As well as archive and museum documents, the exhibition is complemented by a playlist of historic horse racing film footage from Yorkshire Film Archive.
Photo Finish runs from Saturday 14 February to Saturday 06 June. Members of The People will be in the exhibition space on the opening day of the exhibition from 10.30am to 4pm to meet visitors - to find out more about the exhibition project or chat about photography in general, pop in!
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Exhibition:
'Cześć, to my!'
Coming Summer 2026 at Champney Treasure House, Beverley
 Image: Blueprint for a house in Anlaby that was commissioned by Polish-born Hull furrier Max Albeck, 1933 (archives reference RDSC/6/2/1/3652)
Hi, it’s us! Over 100 years of the local Polish community
We’re delighted to be working with Hull Museums and Galleries on an exhibition exploring the Polish community in our area from the past to the present day. The Polish community began in Hull in the 19th century when merchants, traders, furriers and bakers established businesses in the city. In the Second World War, Polish airmen were stationed in the East Yorkshire and played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. Today, the Polish Consulate can be found in Beverley and two Polish Saturday Schools thrive in Hull.
If you are of Polish descent and have stories, photographs, documents or even special objects that you would like to share with us, please get in touch. We would love to hear from you! Please email sally.hayes@eastriding.gov.uk
Cześć, to my! will be showing at the Champney Treasure House Museum in summer 2026.
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Cześć, to my! Ponad 100 lat lokalnej polskiej społeczności
Mamy ogromną przyjemność współpracować z Hull Museums and Galleries nad wystawą odkrywającą polską społeczność w naszej okolicy, dawniej i dziś. Początki polskiej społeczności w Hull sięgają XIX wieku, kiedy to polscy kupcy, handlarze, kuśnierze i piekarze zakładali swoje przedsiębiorstwa. Podczas II wojny światowej polscy lotnicy stacjonowali w East Yorkshire i odegrali kluczową rolę w bitwie o Wielką Brytanię. Obecnie w Beverley znajduje się Konsulat RP, a w Hull działają dwie polskie szkoły sobotnie.
Jeśli masz polskie korzenie, znasz ciekawe historie, posiadasz fotografie, dokumenty lub pamiątkowe przedmioty, którymi chciałbyś się podzielić, to prosimy, odezwij się do nas. Zapraszamy do kontaktu mailowego: sally.hayes@eastriding.gov.uk
Otwarcie wystawy „Cześć, to my!” planowane jest na lato 2026 roku w muzeum Champney Treasure House.
 Image: Grave of Polish airman LAC Paweł Szymczyk (1907 to 1947) in Beverley.
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Archives Exhibition:
'Building the East Riding- and How to Research It!'
at Champney Treasure House, from Saturday 6 September 2025 - Summer 2026
 Visit the ground floor corridor of the Champney Treasure House to see the East Riding Archives' new exhibition 'Building the East Riding- and How to Research It!"
The archives contain a wealth of stories about our region's built heritage, both lost to time and those still with us. Learn about the diverse range of buildings presented through the archive collections, and those who designed them. Be inspired and discover what sources are available for you at the East Riding Archives to research a local landmark or even your own house!
Entry is free to the Champney Treasure House, and all are welcome!
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Goole 200 has launched!
 It’s finally Goole’s bicentenary year of celebrations! Did you know that the port town of Goole as we know it today was established in 1826 thanks to the Aire and Calder Navigation Company? Although old Goole had been around for centuries as a much smaller settlement, it was the Aire and Calder Navigation Company’s extension of the canal from Leeds to Goole, plus the granting of a port charter, that encouraged the town to rapidly develop.
Visit the Goole 200 website to see the schedule for an exciting year of events, activities and celebrations:
The Goole 200 project is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
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Top of the Wold: Tales From the East Riding
at multiple venues, from Saturday 28 March 2026 - Saturday 26 September 2026
 Archives are very excited to be contributing a display of historical records that will travel around with the Mobile Libraries for this marvellous project.
East Riding Libraries have collaborated with Mikron Theatre Company to bring you a brand-new, shiny play all about our mobile library service! Get ready for a hilarious and heartwarming journey to the Top of the Wold!
Hop aboard the most charmingly quirky mobile library you’ll ever encounter and dive into chapters that teem with the lives of then and now. This brand-new play, bursting with original songs, invites you to join the East Riding Mobile Library in a celebration of community, culture, caravans, and peas.
Via Bempton, Bridlington, Hornsea and Howden, we explore a region barely noticed by the nation it feeds, eroded by the pounding North Sea, can a mobile library – with its complex web of rural stops (and somewhat erratic engine) – pull together the Riding’s finest yarns?
From the rolling Wolds to the wild North Sea, discover a place where connection to the land is ingrained, culture is as organic as its produce, and the sea reminds us that we stand on the cliff-edge of a much bigger story.
This laugh-out-loud quest through a patchwork of culture and community celebrates the forgotten, the resilient, and the wonderfully eccentric.
We'd love to see as many of you at our shows as we can before the play tours nationally - we're so grateful to the amazing work and hard graft Mikron Theatre have put in! To get your ticket reserved, visit this link:
Collections Spotlight
Interesting stories found in the archives from the Public Services and Collections teams. This edition has found itself drawn to bright and breezy Bridlington!
Newly Catalogued- Over 6000 Bridlington Building Plans
We have completed cataloguing an extensive series of building plans for Bridlington covering the period 1870-1945. The series contains 6816 individual planning applications and shows the rapid expansion of Bridlington during this period.
The series covers growth of residential planning in the Priory area, and many alterations and additions to hotels and amusement arcades in the town. There are also some interesting plans relating to the Second World War in the early 1940’s covering ARP buildings, warden posts and shelters.
Just one of many examples in this newly catalogued series is this plan (below) from 1936 which shows proposed additions of a new nursery wing and alterations to the infirmary and boiler house at the Bridlington Poor Law Institution, Marton Road and Long Lane.
 Image: Building plan showing the Bridlington Poor Law Institute, 1936 (Archives reference: BOBR/6/2/1/1936/6960)
The catalogue for this series of building plans is now available for researchers to browse:
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Carltons of Bridlington
 Image: Drawing of the fabric and upholstery department of Norman Jones (later Carltons Ltd). Note that the pen and ink sketch is by Frederick Schultz Smith of Hull, a local artist, to some known as Hull’s answer to Lowry, and of some renown. (Archives reference DDX2578/ 8)
Our shopping habits have changed over the last few years and many of us now shop online. Many high street shops and particularly department stores have faced severe economic challenges and have closed down. But once upon a time department stores ruled the high street and, for the discerning customer, they were the shop of choice for those that felt that being able to shop for good quality clothes and house furnishings under one roof was an experience to be savoured. Bridlington was home to one of these stores and it was called Carltons, located on King Street.
The archive service has recently received some records from a descendent of the family which reminds us of the importance of this shop for Bridlington and the surrounding area.
 Image: This photograph offers an angled view of the staff outside Carltons store when celebrating their Golden Jubilee in 1961 (Archives reference: DDX2578/6)
 Image: The Carlton family photograph includes Robert Hall Carlton in the centre, dating 1898 (Archives reference: DDX2578/2)
Started by Robert Hall Carlton of Hull who bought the store from Norman Jones in 1911, it continued as Norman Jones until 1918. Carltons was very similar to the fictional department store of Grace Brothers in the BBC’s sitcom ‘Are you being served?’. There was a strict social protocol and the staff hierarchy was rigidly observed. Staff could only wear black and grey but the ‘floorwalker’ whose purpose it was to ensure customers were being treated courteously (think Captain Peacock), could apparently distinguish himself by wearing a colourful bowtie.
 Image: Carltons staff pausing for a group photograph at the annual Christmas ‘do’ at the Promenade Café, nd. [1920s] (Archives reference: DDX2578/5)
Carltons included the following departments: haberdashers, furnishings, ladies’ fashion, children and teenagers’ fashion (which included school uniforms), millinery, scarves, gloves, jewellery, watches, pipes and lighters, shoes, beds and bedding, curtains and loose covers.
 Image: ‘Sewing Week’ advertisement, undated. (Archives reference: DDX2578/7)
Carltons celebrated its anniversary in 1961 but when John Carlton died in 1968, Philip Carlton’s children (Philip joined the store in 1951) were too young to take over the firm and the shop was sold to Hammonds Group which then demolished the building, unfortunately destroying the famous Carltons’ clock in the process. The store was rebuilt and reopened as Binns, which in turn became Boyes in 1998.
Browse the online catalogue for this collection under the reference DDX2578:
Explore the Archives Research Room Virtually
 Did you know, you can take a virtual wander around the Archives research room and the Champney Treasure House?
This virtual tour is useful for familiarising yourself with the building and our services before your visit.
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Visit the official East Riding Archives Facebook and Instagram pages for more stories from the collections and service announcements.
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