It preserves and makes accessible documents, books, maps, photographs, plans and drawings relating to Shropshire and its people dating from the early 12th to the 21st century.
In 1995 the County Record Office and Local Studies Library were brought together in a purpose built building just off Castle Gates in Shrewsbury town centre.
[1] In 2008 a plaque was unveiled at the archive to commemorate the 725th anniversary of the execution at Shrewsbury of the last native prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Gruffydd.
Also available for research are microfiche copies of census returns for Shropshire and microfiche copies of the GRO index (an index of the General Register Office's birth, marriage and death certificates).
The service also holds the archives of many of the great estates in Shropshire including the Hill family of Attingham Park and Hawkstone Park, and the Duke of Sutherland's Lilleshall estates.