How this site works
Exploring Surrey's Past gives you access to a wide range of resources - excellent starting points for exploring the history and archaeology of the county.
Surrey Heritage is working with a number of partners across the county to give access to thousands of archive, archaeology, museum and local history database records.
This site also features theme pages - articles and stories contributed by all those interested in Surrey's past.
Use the 'Find Out' box, to search all these resources or browse the People, Places, Times and More topics pages:
Archive
- Surrey History Centre holds archives relating to all aspects of the history of the county. The Collections Catalogue allows you to search the full text of over 95% of our archive catalogues.
- Catalogues of special collections held by Surrey History Centre are also available. These include Francis Frith photographs, sale particulars, illustrations, library periodicals and journals, printed maps, the Robert Barclay collection of Surrey illustrations, and Tudor letters of the More family of Loseley.
Archaeology
- Surrey's Historic Environment Record (HER) is a key resource for those interested in the archaeology of the county. It contains records of archaeological monuments, historic sites, findspots and listed buildings.
It also contains details of recent archaeological work, carried out in advance of building development.
You can explore the archaeology that's nearest to you using our 'Near You' postcode search.
Museum
- Find out about some of the fascinating objects in Surrey's museums.
- Information is currently available from Bourne Hall Museum, East Surrey Museum, Godalming Museum, the Rural Life Centre and the Lightbox, Woking.
- You can also view images and descriptions of some of the coins and tokens in Surrey museums.
Local History
There are a number of sources on this site telling you about local history.
- On this site, you can see images digitised by North Tandridge Local History Centre from the photograph collection held at Caterham Valley Library.
Find out more about Local History in Surrey...
Themes
Specially written pages help you to explore what the information available on this site. We are continuing to work with local history societies, groups and individuals on preparing these pages.
You can discover the individuals who have helped shape Surrey's rich history in our People section
You can explore the history of where you live in our Places section
You can find out more about what happened when in our Times section
We also have more topic pages looking at various aspects of Surrey's history in some more detail...
Books!
- A search will also find books that might be of interest, located in the Local studies library at Surrey History Centre, Woking. You can find out more at www.surreylibraries.org
Getting started
One of the best ways to get started is to get searching. Use the "Find Out" box on every page. It will search across all the information we have on the site.
Try searching for an historical site near you, a particular Surrey resident, or an area you know well. There are tips to help you on our Help with Searching Page.
Once you get your results back, you can narrow them down to a particular category you are interested in (as shown by the coloured icons above).
You can also explore the archaeology and history of your local area. Use the "Near You" search on every page. Put in your postcode to see local sites, listed buildings, finds and monuments from the Historic Environment Record. This will also suggest local parish names that you might like to try searching on.
Browsing the site
Remember, as well as having a lot of records, we also have theme pages, specially written to tell you more about People, Places and Times important to Surrey's past. Start exploring these to find out more.
Going further
If you need to narrow your search down, you can always try our advanced search. This lets you query an individual database using who, what, where and when search terms.
Getting Involved
If you have a comment to make about an individual record, you can post this on the record page.
You can also add your own keywords to particular records, to help you and others find them more easily.
We are also encouraging local individuals, groups and societies to contribute pages for the theme sections. If you would like to know more, please contact us.
View our Get Involved pages for more details.
Contact Us
If you would like to contact the project team, you will find full details here.
Specialist Search