Using the searchroom

Opening hours

New opening hours from 12 August 2024  

• Tuesday and Wednesday 9.30am to 5pm - booking strongly advised for all visitors 
• Thursday and Friday 10am to 4pm - advance booking essential 

Archives Card

You will need to register for an Archives Card before your visit. Go to https://archivescard.com/ to enter your details and upload a photograph. To complete your registration, bring two of the forms of ID listed when you visit.

Seat bookings

Tuesdays and Wednesdays 

We strongly advise all visitors to book in advance by emailing norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk. This includes people using microfilms and the searchroom computers. Please state whether you want to consult manuscripts, sound recordings, microfilms, use the searchroom computers, or a combination. If you want to use maps, please request a map table.

You can book for the whole day or for a half-day session:

• Morning 9.30am-2pm
• Afternoon 2-5pm

You can order up to two documents in advance when you book (more documents can be ordered on the day). Please ensure that we receive requests at least 24 hours before you plan to visit.

To book and to order documents, please email norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk. We will confirm your booking by email.

Thursdays and Fridays

We are open 10am - 4pm for advance bookings only (no microfilms are available). 

Please email norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk to book a place and order your documents. You can order six documents for the day.  

• Documents for Thursdays must be requested by 12 noon on the preceding Tuesday
• Documents for Fridays must be ordered by 12 noon on the preceding Wednesday

Due to limited staff availability, you can view pre-ordered documents only. There are no document collections during the day. 

Provided you have pre-booked, you can use the searchroom computers to access the NRO catalogue and the subscription websites Ancestry, Find my Past and The Genealogist. You can also listen to audio recordings. 

To see documents on microfilm, please go to the Norfolk Heritage Centre which holds copies of most NRO microfilms. Before visiting, we advise you to check the availability of films with the Heritage Centre.

Locating documents for your research

Search our online catalogue to identify which documents you wish to see and make a note of their reference numbers.

The catalogue includes set searches for popular searches (such as maps, parish registers and wills). See our help pages for guidance on using the catalogue. You can find further advice in the 'Using NROCAT' videos on the NRO's YouTube channel - how to. Our research guides suggest documents useful for many topics, such as tracing your family history or the history of your house. Our Guide to holdings gives an overview of the collections we hold.

Whilst most documents are available to consult, there are restrictions on using documents marked in the catalogue as:

• 'Unfit for production' or 'fragile'
• On microfilm - please consult the microfilm copy instead (except for maps, where we produce the originals unless they are unfit for production)
• On restricted access because they contain sensitive information - you will need written permission from the document's owner to see them

Please contact us if you need further advice.