- Behind the scenes experience
- School holiday activities
- Adult craft
- Norfolk Hearth Tax digital launch
- Reminiscence: Memories of Christmas past
- History talks
- Research workshops
- History in Focus
- Looking after your books and documents at home
- Quick Guides
- Wills
Behind the scenes experience
In person
Wednesday 14 January, 2-3.30am
£7 per person*
Join us for our popular visit behind the scenes at the Norfolk Record Office. Find out how the conservators repair both parchment and paper documents, have a look at our Strongrooms, and see a display of original documents.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters get two free tickets for our Behind the Scenes experience as part of their individual membership. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
School holiday activities
Stained Glass Creations
In person
Wednesday 18 February, 2-3.30pm
Pay what you can (£2 per child suggested).
Aimed at primary school-age children (under 8s must be accompanied by an adult).
Take inspiration from stained glass designs in the archives and a mixture of materials including glass pens, paints and cellophane to create your very own stained glass to take home.
Bookings open on Monday 12 January.
Adult craft
Rag rug wreath
In person
Thursday 27 November, 1-3pm
£12 per person
Refreshments included
Get in the Christmas spirit by joining us to see how Christmas was celebrated through the ages, looking at Christmas cards sent during the Victorian period and into the First World War, uncovering the business archives of Caley cracker manufacturing department and accounts of gifts given to the poor in the 1840s-50s. Spend the rest of the session trying your hand at creating a rag rug wreath whilst listening to some festive music. There will be a mince pie and mulled wine (or a soft drink) for all attendees.
All materials are provided.
Norfolk Hearth Tax Digital Edition Launch
In person
Wednesday 3 December, 3-5pm
Free of charge
Light Refreshments provided.
Limited places now available for this event celebrating the Launch of the digital editions of the Norwich Hearth Tax 1671 and Norfolk Hearth Tax 1672.
Programme:
Non-conformity and the Hearth Tax – Dr Joel Halcomb (University of East Anglia)
Wealth Distribution and the Hearth Tax in East Anglia – Dr Andrew Wareham (University of Roehampton)
Restoration Hearth Tax Exemption Certificates – Peter Seaman (University of Roehampton)
Reminiscence
Memories of Christmas past
In person
Friday 12 December, 10-11.30am
Free of charge
Refreshments included
Many modern Christmas traditions include decorating gingerbread houses, creating Christmas Eve boxes and Elf on the Shelf. But what were your Christmas traditions when you were young? Join us for this session to reminisce about Christmases of the past. There will be a chance to see some original documents and sound recordings about people’s memories of their Christmas activities. Join us at our café style setting to grab a mince pie or some lebkuchen and have a chat about your memories.
History talks
Norwich Castle keep – how the royal palace was reborn
In person and online
By Tim Pestell
Wednesday 19 November, 1-2pm
Free of charge
The reopening of Norwich Castle keep in August, after a five-year project to return the building to its original layout, has been one of the UK’s largest museum redevelopments of recent times. This talk will outline why the project took place and look behind the scenes at how recreating the rooms and their contents was achieved.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
Gay life during the Norwich Blitz
In person and online
By Piers Haslam
Wednesday 11 February, 1-2pm
Free of charge
What was it like for gay men in Norwich before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967?
This talk marks LGBT+ History Month by exploring the personal diaries of William Dennis, which give us an intimate view into the life of one man who found pleasures and dangers on the streets of wartime Norwich. Join us to hear more about the pubs and workplaces that once hosted a thriving community.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
‘A nevv orchard and garden for Sir Edwarde Chamberlyn’. A reconstructed history of an early Tudor Norfolk gentry’s garden
In person and online
By Brigitte Webster
Wednesday 25 February, 1-2pm
Free of charge
This talk illuminates the scholarly process of recontextualising a local early sixteenth century garden and its physical representation to create a stage to experience the sensory, spiritual and productive space as perhaps once laid out and enjoyed by the lord of the manor himself.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
Research workshops
Our research workshops to help you to get started or discover additional materials useful for your own research. All of the sessions are led by a knowledgeable and experienced tutor who will take you through each source focusing on their uses for research and how to access them. For each session, a full workbook will also be provided.
Advanced family history- part 1: poll books, electoral registers, marriage licence bonds, & tithe maps
Online
Monday 19 January, 2-3pm
£7, (£5 with code if you took part in our Introduction workshop in 2025).
Join us online to discover how research the next steps in your family history. We show you how to use poll books and electoral registers to track residents of a particular property, and find out who had the right to vote during different periods, understand how marriage licence bonds can help you to locate where a wedding took place, and find out how tithe maps can help you to navigate 1841 and 1851 census records.
Advanced house history
Online
Friday 30 January, 10-11am
£7, (£5 with code if you took part in our Introduction workshop in 2025).
Join us online to learn how to continue your research into the fabric and previous inhabitants of your building. Learn about the manorial system and how to find former owners from manor court books, find out how to discover the use of different rooms from probate inventories, understand how to use the field books and valuation books from the duties on land values.
History in focus
Each session will explain how to use the searchroom and online catalogue to find documents on a particular topic before talking through some examples and then giving you a chance to explore documents connected to the topic in more detail.
School records
In person
Thursday 12 February, 11am-12.30pm
Pay what you can (£2.50 per person suggested).
This session will explore school records. Find out how to trace information about individual pupils, the school building and the staff. Understand which records are closed for data protection and when these will be opened to the public. Before having a look at examples of some of these documents in a display of original records.
Refreshments included.
Looking after your books and documents at home
Online
Wednesday 28 January, 10-10.45am
Free of charge
Join Senior Conservator, Nick Sellwood, to find out how to look after the books and documents in your own home. Nick will explain how heat, storage and moisture can affect the condition of documents and the best places to store them to avoid future damage. Nick will be available at the end of the session to answer questions about your own documents.
Booking required, please use the link below
Quick Guides
Each of our quick guides looks closely at an individual set of documents or research topic.
Settlement Papers
Online
Friday 9 January, 10-10.45am
Free of charge
This session looks at how you can find out about individuals through settlement certificates, settlement examinations and removal orders, before moving on to look at papers showing assisted migration and emigration and poor rate books.
Booking required using the link below
Business records
Online
Tuesday 13 January, 2-2.45pm
Free of charge
This session looks at different types of businesses in Norfolk, including large organisations, smaller family-run businesses and farming. We explain some of the different types of records you may come across and how to go about using them in your research.
Please book using the link below
Wills
Online
Thursday 5 February, 2-2.45pm
Free of charge
Find out about the court system before and after 1858 to understand where your ancestor or individual you are researching may have had their will proven. Discover other probate sources included administrations and probate inventories.
Please book using the link below
Norfolk Record Office 