Celebrating our collections dating from 780AD to the present day
Welcome back to a special festive edition of West Sussex Unwrapped! Watch Screen Archive South East's wonderful film footage featuring the Williams family of East Grinstead on Christmas Day, 1967-1970. Then discover more about West Sussex Christmases gone by through a multitude of festive records from the archives. Christmas on Film Family Christmas in East…
By Jo McConville, Transatlantic Ties project archivist. You can read more on the TT project here. For a long time, I didn’t really ‘get’ Thanksgiving. Perhaps not so surprising, given that it’s such a distinctively American holiday which doesn’t register on our British calendars. My main exposure to it came during my 1990s Friends obsession,…
Continue reading ➞ Thanksgiving: A Transatlantic Ties update
Britain's pioneering work on establishing the railway network has long been a source of national pride. Rail travel has impacted many different aspects of West Sussex life; from transporting post and essential goods across the South Downs, to popularising seaside holidays, the county has a deep and rich connection to the railways. Railways on film…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped Week 9: The Railways
Peek into the history of West Sussex's traditions, some you may know and some you may not. A few are shared with other counties but others are unique to West Sussex. Traditions have, by their nature, changed with time and many are no longer practised. If you've experienced a 'West Sussex tradition' let us know…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped Week 6: Rural traditions
Map of Sussex, and it's extensive coastline, by James Wyld, c1860, PM 124 The coast of West Sussex is beautiful, but also deadly. The sea, with its unpredictable swells and lack of shelter from squally storms, has claimed many lives and countless vessels. Although the United Kingdom is an island with a deep connection with…
Arguably, the profession of nursing offered the same essential experience for every nurse. Yet, it was the experiences born from a specific place and time which gave each nurse their own unique story, and West Sussex has been home to a number of historically significant institutions. From the medieval hospitality of St Mary's Hospital in…
With around 50 miles of picturesque coastline, it's no surprise that West Sussex has been a popular summer destination since the 1700s. As a result, resort towns like Bognor, Littlehampton, Worthing and the Witterings developed rapidly and have all been home to beachfront villas, donkey rides, boarding houses, bathing machines, and of course ice cream!…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped: A Sussex Summertime
By Alice Millard, Research Assistant Doreen Peskett (née Strange) was an avid diary keeper throughout the Second World War. So avid, in fact, that this blog only focuses on her entries up to December 1941. She was one of many thousands of women who joined the Women's Land Army and provided much needed agricultural support.…
By Nichola Court, Archivist West Sussex Record Office is fortunate to hold the collections of a number of professional photographers and studios, including those of George Garland, Walter Kevis and Chichester Photographic Studio. These collections provide an immediate visual representation of the past, albeit – usually – a carefully managed and planned representation, according to…
Continue reading ➞ ‘Snapping the centuries’: the photographs of John Smith
This is such an extraordinary period in our recent history with events impacting on our lives in ways that we could not have imagined. West Sussex Record Office has had to close its doors for the first time in over 70 years but our work goes on. We are keener than ever to document the…
West Sussex Record Office 