Save our history: SuffolkNews campaigns to keep under-threat West Suffolk Archives branch in Bury St Edmunds

Bury St Edmunds' archives office, a vital hub which preserves and provides access to the precious documents and records from our history, could be closed.

Suffolk County Council last week announced plans to centralise the service, based in Raingate Street, and move it to The Hold, in Ipswich, in a bid to save £140,000.

The Bury Free Press (SuffolkNews) is calling on the authority to keep the West Suffolk Archives branch in Bury St Edmunds and echoes the views of local historians and service users that our heritage should stay in the town.

The long-term impact of severing these historic records’ physical connection to their home town would be far greater and damaging than a short-term saving.

These documents are there not just for residents, academics and historians to delve into Bury's past – its achievements and follies – they are also a guiding light from which we can learn to help shape the town’s future.

Some of these records have been on private loan on the understanding they would remain in Bury for local residents to access, moving them 20-odd miles away into another town would renege on that moral social contract.

The records office is a public asset with roots that run deep through one of the most historic towns in the country.

We are urging Suffolk County Council to keep Bury's heritage local so we can preserve it for current and future generations.

The West Suffolk Archives branch does not belong to the history books which it showcases.

It should continue long into the future.

Join us in the fight to keep it open and add your voice to the campaign. You can also contact your local county councillor to make your views known. To find your county councillor’s contact details, click here.

Help to save our history.