Denbighshire Record Office: an Essay in Pragmatism

There has been a gaol on this site in Ruthin since at least the sixteenth century; the earliest surviving building dates from 1775, and the archives are mainly stored in the most recent part of the gaol site, the block built in 1866, modelled on Pentonville, which at that time incorporated the latest thinking in prison design.  There is also a smaller wing which formerly housed the women's prison, which is now used to shelve outsize items.  After the prison closed in 1916 it was used for a variety of purposes, - as police flats, as a munitions factory during the 2nd World War and as County Council offices and stores

The Denbighshire Record Office was established on the site in 1972, became part of the Clwyd Record Office in 1974, and once again reverted to Denbighshire after local government reorganisation in 1996, although ‘new' Denbighshire covers a rather different area from the pre 1974 county.

New Denbighshire inherited a rather large debt from one of its predecessor authorities, which imposed considerable financial constraints on the county for the first three years of its existence.  There was no capital funding available, so there was no prospect of obtaining match-funding for any large HLF grant, which made any thought of alterations and improvements impossible.  Luckily, the capital funding was restored in 1998, in time to make the Ruthin Gaol project application viable.

The project's assets were considered to be:

• The extensive archive collections which covered the entire county of ‘old' Denbighshire.
• The buildings and the site itself. The site had been defaced by ad-hoc additions to the entrances and exterior walls, and by the partial demolition of the gateway.  There had been a pre-fabricated branch library building in the centre of the courtyard, which although demolished, had left noticeable scars on the landscape.  The intention was to remove all extraneous structures, and to restore the site to its nineteenth century state as far as possible.
• The 1866 block in particular had great potential, it was a large and very striking building from the outside. In addition to removal of various unsightly excrescences, the interior needed extensive work to remove the floors which had been added in the munitions factory period, which would open up the central atrium, and to restore the walkways with their distinctive iron railings.  It was also decided to remove the original attic floor, which was unsafe, and which would also allow the roof to be fitted with skylights which would increase the light levels in the building, and also allow for venting of smoke in case of a fire.
• The building's thermal mass, the fact that the cells had thick walls and small windows, which helped to minimise heat exchange, and the original ducting, which could be used to house the pipes for environmental control, meant that the architects and heating engineers involved had a way to achieve BS5454 compliance without having to deface either the central atrium or the cells. There was also room for all the plant to be house in the side attics, which were hidden from view from the ground.

The lottery bid was submitted in 1998, and was successful in March 1999, with a grant of £1.3 million.  Match funding was found from a variety of sources, which covered the total cost of £3 million.

The main requirements for the improvements to the building which the proposal had to meet were:

• BS5454 compliance, which was to be achieved using an airflow system through the old ducting in and out of each cell, with monitoring sensors in two cells on each floor, connected to computer software which would take readings at regular intervals.  Temperature and humidity could also be adjusted if necessary by using the software.  
• CCTV monitors, two externally, to cover both entrances and two internally, one in reception and one in the public searchroom.
• Automatic fire extinguishing system, with sensors in all cells and areas where documents were stored, to sense both particulates and heat, with an inergen gas system, with gas cylinders and plant stored in the roof space.
• An improved security system, with outside monitoring at all times.
• The development of a heritage trail in the basement and part of the ground floor, to reflect the history of the gaol, and provide an interactive space for school groups and others.

As was inevitable in the reuse of an existing structure, there were some problems which were going to be insurmountable, mainly access, efficient use of restricted space and shared use of the building.  

Disabled access was always going to cause difficulties, particularly when wheelchair access was needed.  The gaol is on several levels, which necessitated the installation of a lift between reception and the public searchroom. Microfilm readers had been housed in several cells on the ground floor; the door frames are very narrow, and encased in metal, so there was no possibility of widening them. In order to provide disabled access to microfilm readers, a few machines have been moved out into the central area, something which the architects had discouraged on the grounds of spoiling the look of the space.

Twenty-two small cells on each floor meant that maintaining constant temperature and humidity in all rooms was always more problematic than controlling a large space.  The size of the cells also meant that shelving was restricted, and could never be as efficient as in a larger space.

Another concern was that there were now two quite separate areas for staff to manage, the public searchroom and the reception.  It was calculated that in order to maintain the same levels of staffing, almost double the number of people would have been needed, and of course there was no budget for additional posts.

The separation between the heritage trail and archives caused a few problems in ensuring the segregation of the two types of visitor, but this has been achieved by locking two access doors, and having some rather complicated keypad programming of the lift which travels between the basement and the second floor.

Although not, by any means, a perfect solution, the HLF grant did enable us to make significant improvements to the Record Office, and to develop the Heritage trail to exploit the historically interesting features of the only example of this kind of gaol which is not still in use as a prison.

To conclude:

• As a result of the HLF grant, the building now has a much more up-to-date environmental control system, though the teething problems have still not been eliminated, and there is an unacceptable range of fluctuation in both temperature and humidity at times.
• CCTV, security and fire detection systems are all working well, and are a great improvement on previous installations.
• The new shelving, although somewhat cramped, has given expansion room for a several years at the present rate of intake.
• The heritage trail has opened the building to people who would never have considered visiting the archives.
• The reception area, while causing staffing problems, does provide a distinct waiting area for those visiting the record office.
• The new document processing area has provided a space for segregating, cleaning and sorting new accessions.