Lottery bid for county's archives

Carlisle Castle houses the present archives service

Council bosses in Cumbria are to ask for almost £4m from lottery officials to relocate the county's archives.

Archives are currently held in Carlisle Castle. But space is limited and Cumbria County Council wants to use the nearby listed Lady Gilford House.

Council chiefs are now set to bid for £3.75m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The authority says the switch, after 40 years, would also secure the future of Lady Gillford House - one of the city's most important listed buildings.

The council allocated £1.25m to the scheme in February and will now apply for Heritage Lottery funding to finance the remaining 75% of the £5m project.

A decision on the first stage of the bid is expected in March 2006.

Family history

Over the last 20 years, the county has seen a 250% increase in public demand for archives.

Roger Bingham, cabinet member for culture and communities, said: "Thousands of people visit Carlisle's archives office every year to research family or property history.

"We now need to secure suitable accommodation that can allow us to develop a popular and important service and protect existing documents.

"This is an important part of regenerating Cumbria through culture and the next step is to secure the Heritage Lottery funding that will help take the project forward."