Seasonal Opening Hours

Posted on 17 December 2019

If you’re planning to visit us across December and the festive season, please be aware of the following closures.

We’re unable to answer any email or telephone enquiries during Collections Development Week or over the Christmas break. We will respond to any questions as soon as possible on our return to normal service.

Collections Development Week

We will be holding our annual Collections Development Week from Monday 9th to Friday 13th December, during which the searchroom and reception will be closed. This is an opportunity for staff in the archives to carry out some essential tasks which enable the smooth running of the searchroom when we are open, and to allow us to undertake in-depth work on archives in our care.

Although our searchroom and reception will be closed, our microfilm resources will be available as usual on a self-service basis. We schedule our Collections Development Week in the run-up to Christmas as we typically have fewer visitors at this time, and hope to minimise disruption as a result.

Christmas and New Year Opening

Over Christmas, our searchroom will be open for you to consult our original documents until 4:45pm on Friday 20th December and will re-open at 9:15am on Thursday 2nd January.

Our microfilm resources will be available on a self-service basis every day over the Christmas break barring Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The microfilm room will close at 3:30pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Many of our Parish registers, Bishops’ Transcripts and Marriage Bonds and Allegations are available via Find My Past, and our Cause Papers, Archbishops' Registers, and Retreat hospital archive are available, for free, 24/7 online.