Published: Thursday, 9th October, 2008 04:00
Record breakers
Comments (0)
Print Article
From left to right: Cllr Peter Beard, Mayor of Reading Borough Council; Cllr Barrie Patman, Deputy Mayor, Wokingham Borough Council; Dr Peter Durrant, County Archivist, Berkshire Record Office; The Hon Mrs Mary Bayliss, Lord-Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire with a very rare parish register that notes the burial of Charles I for St John’s Church in Windsor.
Pic by: Taline Jones
A MISSING poster for Agatha Christie and the parish record of the death of King Charles I are some of the historic items on display at a new exhibition.
The Prisoners, Ghosts and Glass exhibition at the Berkshire Record Office in Coley Avenue, Coley, is part of the centre’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
It was opened on Monday [6] by the Lord-Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire, the Hon Mrs Mary Bayliss, who reminded guests that her historic role also includes the title Keeper of the Records. She said: “The records have frequently been neglected, lost or damaged in the past, but now we can all rest assured that the five miles of storage full of documents are meticulously cared for by county archivist Dr Peter Durrant and his staff. It is here for novices as well as experienced researchers to delve into, understand and enjoy.”
The exhibition traces the history of the record office and displays some of its key records, including the execution details of the prisoner whose death inspired Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol and an 18th confession of fornication.
Dr Durrant said: “The past isn’t always nice. We have records of poverty, exploitation and crime. But we also have records of generosity, aspiration and beauty.
“Archives have been described as the very essence of our heritage, and so they are, because they bring us face to face with the past and the people of the past in all its and their variety. They record the actions and events that have shaped our present. They help us to understand our past, they challenge us, intellectually and emotionally, and they can inspire our imagination.”
The record office opened in 1948 in the old Shire Hall in the Forbury in the town centre, sharing space with the Assize Courts - and occasionally dangerous prisoners. It then moved to Shinfield Park before moving into its current purpose-built building in 2000. More than 170,000 people have been to see its 200,000 books, boxes, files and rolls. It is jointly run by the six Berkshire authorities of Reading, West Berkshire, Wokingham, Bracknell, Slough and Windsor and Maidenhead.
The Mayor of Reading, Cllr Peter Beard, said: “It’s a wonderful facility to have and I really would encourage people to come here and have a look round because some of the records are just eye-opening.”
The record office is open 9am-5pm Tuesday to Wednesday, 9am-9pm on Thursday and and 9am-4.30pm on Friday. The exhibition runs until January 23. Visit www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk
Further Details
