North Yorkshire County Record Office is delighted to announce it has been awarded £96,300 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), to catalogue and open up access to the hitherto unseen archive of the Graham Family of Norton Conyers. Partnership funding has been generously supplied by the Friends of the National Libraries and Northallerton and District Local History Society.
Both Charles I and James II are said to have stayed at Norton Conyers and Charlotte Bronté is reputed to have taken inspiration from this historic house as a model for Thornfield Hall and, in particular, Mrs Rochester’s room, in Jane Eyre.
The Attics and Acres Project provides an exciting opportunity for exploring the heritage of the region’s landed estates by making this untapped resource accessible to the public through outreach events and exhibitions, thus encouraging people to learn about, and celebrate, their own local heritage and its relevance in the national sphere. Keep an eye on how this project progresses through our blog.
Access to the online catalogue for this collection can be viewed here If you select ‘Advanced search’ and enter ZKZ in the ‘Document Reference’ field, then the records of this collection will appear.
Attics and Acres 