ArchivesAlston Moor Historical Society

A Roman fort, fossils in the pavements, strange landforms giving clues to 700 years of mining activity, fortified farmhouses – wherever you look, Alston Moor is absolutely steeped in history.

No matter what period or what sort of history you are interested in, Alston Moor has something to offer. You may be a general history buff, interested in your family tree, wanting to know more about the house you have just bought or rented, curious about the lumps and bumps in the landscape, wondering what the track you use for your daily dog walk was originally for – Alston Moor Historical Society can help.

Our wonderful archives are stored in a room in Alston Town Hall, and we have enough space there to open to the public every Saturday (for current opening times, see below). If you would like an individual session to explore a particular aspect of local history, please contact the phone number shown here.

How does Alston Moor come to be the way it is?
What makes Alston Moor tick? What makes the place so special?
A lot of the answers lie in the history of the area.

Alston Moor Historical Society’s Archives are the memory bank of Alston Moor, and the Town Hall is the perfect location for them. Here, the Society has display space, storage space, work space and, of course, space for visitors. A team of volunteer archivists is working towards a state-of the-art archive, with standards as near as possible to those of the County Records Office.

It’s important not only to conserve the local records for their own sake, but to make them work, so the Society aims not only to bring people into the Town Hall to look at documents and photographs, etc., but also to get information out into the community. This involves mobile displays based on archive material, together with regular updating and modification to the website and spreading news of developments via Facebook.

Volunteers can offer help with genealogical research as well. Through the link with St. Augustine’s Church, family histories from around the world can be traced. When the lead industry here collapsed, people left the district and travelled far afield, including to Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Also in the Archives there are temporary displays on themes of local interest. So far we have presented ‘Epiacum Roman fort’, ‘Local Agriculture’, and ‘Alston Moor on Stage!’.

Alston Town Hall,
Front Street,
Alston,
Cumbria,
CA9 3RF.
Tel. 01434 382244

Library opening times
Monday 10am - 3pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 3pm
Thursday 10am - 3pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 3pm
Sunday Closed

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Alston Town Hall - Alston Moor's Historical Archives