By Imogen Russell, Archives Assistant
Since 1989, the Record Office’s home has been 3 Orchard Street, and houses the records of the county’s rich and diverse history, from its earliest document the Oslac Charter, dating from 780AD, to its most renowned the Sussex Declaration. A blog post on the history of the Record Office was published for our 75th anniversary, but as we celebrate our 80th anniversary this year, I wanted to look back on the history of the site on which we presently stand.
Early maps, such as Cap I/29/24 and the 1806 draft OS map, show the area as fields or orchards. Orchard Street was called Scuttery or Squitry Lane with many of the buildings shown as blocks or in too small a scale to determine anything of significance. Not until the 1840 tithe map do we get a property which was owned by the Henty brothers, George and Robert, as part of the Westgate Brewery Complex. If you are interested in learning more about the Westgate Brewery, Pat Saunders article on its history (AM 1177/1) is well worth a read and this can be ordered and viewed in our Searchroom.
Commonly called Sherburne House, the property was home to families and residents throughout the 20th century, including artist Bertram Walter Dumbleton and his wife Janet, Civil Servant and Solicitor Thomas Carleton Bates and his family and Rev Frederick Dobree Teesdale, Prebendal of Chichester Cathedral. It even housed the headquarters of the Federation of Women’s Institute whose address was recorded in the Chichester Observer as 3 Orchard Street.
Sadly, we only have one image of Sherburne House, however a Sales Particular in the Chichester Observer from 1926, following the death of resident Thomas Carleton Bates describes the property as containing:
“Entrance Hall, Cloak room, three good reception rooms, seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, main and secondary staircases, ample and compact domestic offices and outbuildings.” Its gardens were “shaded by specimen, ornamental and timber trees, laid out with flower bed, lawns, shrubberies, gravel walks and Kitchen Garden.”
– Chichester Observer 14 April 1926
Further research of the Chichester Observer via British Newspaper archive, suggests that by 1939 Sherburne House had been converted into flats as it describes one for let:
“Furnished or unfurnished. Large sitting room, two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen with all electric services. – Apply between 11 and 12am Sherburne House, Orchard Street, Chichester.”
– Chichester Observer 14 January 1939
A further advertisement in May 1924 asks for one or two ladies to let flat 1 on the first floor, Sherburne House, Orchard Street.
Prior to 1971, the building was given listed building status (Lib 7562) and described the exterior as an 18th century two storey property, two windows, stuccoed, slate roof and a recessed doorway with Doric columns and ped[estal]. A large 19th century addition to the north was a separate building. When the building was eventually unlisted in July 1971, special attention was made to retain the doorway. If it survived and where it ended up, I do not know.
Presumably, age and disrepair of the house caused several planning applications to be made in the early 1970s, including a few for its demolition and in 1973 one for the layout for a County Council car park leading to a playing field. A few members of staff remember the car park and playing football matches on the field. What can you remember about this period in the site’s history?
After exceeding its capacity in the previous two sites (Edes House and the WSCC Basement), the Record Office was designed and built, and at the time it was a state-of-the-art purpose-built county archive which became the ideal to follow.
The car park was already earmarked for development and was the perfect site for a new Record Office too, being within in easy reach of County Hall and the city centre. A new building allowed us greater control in terms of access, security and environment, enabling us to look after the records better and ensure we had capacity for future deposits.
The building’s champion and driving force was the formidable Mrs Patricia Gill, who convinced the County Council to part with funds and build a brand-new building. For 7 years, she spearheaded the project, seeing it through to its completion and opening in November 1989. According to some former staff members, it was also one of the last projects drawn up by the County Architects Department.
- WDC/AV7/3/2 – Staff outside New Record Office. 1989
- WDC/AV7/3/13 – Inside strongroom 1, one of five strongrooms housing more than 8 miles of shelving
- WDC/AV7/4/23 – Mrs Gill
- WDC/AV7/4/51 – Sample window for the new Record Office
- WDC/AV7/4/66 – Man working on steelwork for the new Record Office
- WDC/AV7/4/109 – Exterior of the new Record Office under construction
- WDC/AV7/4/146 – Pickford’s removals helping to move the collections from Edes House
- WDC/AV7/4/166 – Moving the map table
- WDC/AV2/1- Extract from 1984 report by Mrs Gill, focusing on the general requirements of the New Record Office Searchroom
Lord MacKay officially opened the building on 10 November 1989, stating that that because of the design and atmosphere of the building people would be encouraged to visit the Record Office and we have been welcoming visitors ever since.
If you would like to come and see the Record Office for yourself, we are holding a free Open Day on Saturday 21 November! There will be behind the scenes tours, a document display (including the Oslac Charter), a chance to listen to voices from the past through digitised oral history tapes, see 1940s films provided by Screen Archive South East, and ask for advice from family history experts. There will even be a vintage ‘tea tent’ where you can grab free refreshments. Find out more about this event on our website.
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