4m parliamentary records complete five-year move to Kew

The National Archives in Kew, south-west London, has completed a five-year project to transfer 4 million records from the Palace of Westminster. The move concludes a long-term effort to relocate parliamentary documents from Victoria Tower to a facility better suited for long-term preservation. The archives are now fully catalogued and available for public viewing.

The collection includes the 1605 Thanksgiving Act, passed by King James I following the failed Gunpowder Plot. This document, written on a flat vellum page with elaborate calligraphy, directed that church services be held every 5 November to commemorate the failure of the plot. The act describes the deliverance of the Protestant church from what it termed "malignant and devilish papists."

Dr. Graham Moore, an early modern parliament specialist at the National Archives, noted the ornate language often found in such legislation. He pointed to a passage praising King James I and VI, describing him as "the most great learned religious King" enriched with "plentiful progeny proceeding out of his royal loins." Moore explained that these acts typically begin with a florid statement of reasons before moving into the actual legal text.

Also included in the transfer is a well-preserved House of Commons journal from 1605. A marginal entry dated 5 November 1605, written by the Commons clerk, records the search of the Palace of Westminster cellars and the discovery of 36 barrels of gunpowder along with Guy Fawkes. Another scroll in the collection is an Act of Attainder that declared Fawkes and his co-conspirators guilty of treason, ordering that they be hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The five-year transfer added 16.5 linear kilometres of records to the existing 174.5 linear kilometres housed at Kew. Each item is marked with an individual registration barcode. The public can now order and view these documents for free. This includes a suffragette’s banner from 28 October 1908, which was secretly taken into the Ladies’ Gallery. Two women chained themselves to the iron grille while another dropped the banner, shouting, "We have been behind this insulting grille for too long."

The collection also contains non-documentary items, including a piece of a gravestone, a sword, and a uniform. The largest single document is the 1821 Land Tax Commissioners Act. Inscribed on 757 vellum membranes, it measures 348 metres in length, which is longer than three football fields. The act nominates 65,000 commissioners to collect revenue based on land valuations.

Dr. Joe Cozens, a 19th century parliament records specialist, identified the Great Reform Act of 1832 as a key constitutional document. He stated it admits middle-class men in borough towns to the franchise for the first time, marking a first step toward modern democracy.

Saul Nassé, the chief executive of the National Archives, said the Palace of Westminster was not designed with modern preservation standards in mind. The institution now holds a total of 20 million records, with one-third in deep storage in Cheshire. With the addition of parliamentary records, the archives now hold documents from the judiciary, government, and parliament.

Nassé stated that the move offers the public more access than ever before. He said there is no point in creating and keeping records safe unless there is a way of bringing them to life for people. The completion of the transfer consolidates the records of the three arms of the British state in one location.