A HERITAGE Open Day event is being held at the Manor House in Ilkley on Saturday when proposals for an Ilkley community archive will be available to view.

Ilkley Civic Society aims to create an archive facility at the Manor House for Ilkley documents, photographs and information so that they are available locally.

Chairman of Ilkley Civic Society Helen Kidman said: “Historic Ilkley material is at present stored at archives in Bradford, at West Yorkshire Archive Service at Morley and Wakefield, Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society at Leeds University and with North Yorkshire items (eg parts of Middleton) at Northallerton. A large amount of items is in private hands awaiting a more local solution.

“A facility is needed for storing and examining historic documents in both hard copy and electronic format which are pertinent to Ilkley and district. Items will be conserved, catalogued and stored to professional standards. Mostly the documents will be copies of the originals. The storage area itself will not normally be accessible to the public as items will be selected by volunteers and placed in the study area as required. It is proposed to use the second floor of the Manor House (in the eaves) for storage, with a viewing/study area by arrangement on the first floor. The eaves are not suitable for public use because of the low height of the truss beams. We will however being showing visitors this space at our HODS event on 15th September 2018.”

The aim of the archive is to attract schools, students, local historians, local groups and family history researchers to the Manor House. Helen added: “In the long term, we would aim to put the catalogue on-line so that researchers could order items in advance of visiting.”

Types of material to archived would include: maps and plans; artwork; newspapers; historic records, deeds, photographs and pictures and Civic Society and Friends of the Manor House records.

Find out more on Saturday, September 15, 10.30am to 4pm at the Manor House.