Catalogue description Public Record Office: Maps, Plans and Photographs of the Chancery Lane Building

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Details of PRO 50
Reference: PRO 50
Title: Public Record Office: Maps, Plans and Photographs of the Chancery Lane Building
Description:

This series consists mainly of plans of the floors, of the electrical, heating and hot water systems and of the layout of the museum in the Public Record Office's Chancery Lane building. It includes photographs, 1896-1965, of staff and various internal and external views of the building.

Date: 1896-1965
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 59 flat sheets, photographs and volumes
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Administrative / biographical background:

The Chancery Lane site was first occupied in 1232 by a hostel for Jews converted to the Christian faith. After the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290, it accommodated officials of the law court of Chancery, the most senior of them being the Master of the Rolls, who from 1377 to 1837 used the buildings as an official residence, a storage place for records and a court. The site was surrendered by him in 1837 for the new Public Record Office.

The present buildings were erected in stages between 1851 and 1902 (architects Sir James Pennethorne and Sir John Taylor). The museum incorporates glass and monuments from a chapel formerly on the site.

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