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Islington Tribune - by JAMIE WELHAM
Published: 12 October 2007

Family history trail leads to Kew as centre nears closure

ENTHUSIASTS tracing their family history will be dealt a blow when part of a records centre closes in November.
The upper floor of the Family Records Centre is moving from Clerkenwell to the National Archives building in Kew.
The upper floor houses nationwide wills and census archives, some going back to the 14th century, while the lower floor keeps birth, death and marriage certificates and is run by the Office for National Statistics.
By March next year, archives from both floors will have moved and the centre will shut completely.
It has been based in Myddelton Street since 1997 and holds data from the first census in 1841 onwards, as well as birth, marriage and death certificates dating from 1837.
The oldest archive in the building, a will from 1380, will be moving to Kew to join one of the most treasured national archives, the Doomsday Book.
Actor Stephen Fry and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson have visited the Clerkenwell building during filming for the BBC hit series Who Do You Think You Are?
The television programme transformed family history from an arcane pursuit to a popular hobby.
A spokesman for National Archives, which runs the top floor of the centre, said: “It’s sad, but we couldn’t maintain two sites with such expensive rents. It doesn’t makes sense when every record we have is duplicated in Kew.”
Family history was increasingly being researched on the internet, he said.
“The Kew site was chosen because it is bigger and is more accessible for people living outside London,” the spokesman added.
The Office of National Statistics will temporarily move its archives to Kew until 2009 but it does not plan to keep them physically open to the public.

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