National Archives Transfers 4 Million Parliamentary Records to Kew

The National Archives has completed a five-year project to transfer 4 million records from the archives of parliament at the Palace of Westminster to its repository in Kew, south-west London. The move adds 16.5 linear kilometres of documents to the existing collection, including the 1605 Thanksgiving Act, records of the Gunpowder Plot, the Great Reform Act of 1832, and a 1908 suffragette banner.

Chief Executive Saul Nassé stated that while the archives lived at the Palace of Westminster for many decades, the building "has not been designed with modern preservation standards in mind." The transfer aims to ensure the long-term survival of these documents while increasing public accessibility.

The National Archives now houses a total of 20 million records from the government, judiciary, and parliament. One-third of these records are stored in a deep storage facility in Cheshire.