About Redbridge Heritage Centre
Redbridge Heritage Centre is the local archive and local and family history service for the London Borough of Redbridge. It is run as a joint service with Redbridge Museum and holds the largest collection of materials in the Borough on the history of Ilford, Wanstead, Woodford and Redbridge.
The Heritage Centre can be found on the second floor of Redbridge Central Library in Ilford.
Book in advance
If you visit in person, you must book a session five days before your visit. Please let us know which resources or archives you wish to view.
Each session is 2.5 hours and are available 10.30am-1pm or 1.30pm-4pm, Tuesday-Friday and every other Saturday. At the end of a morning session, if an afternoon session is available, customers may also book the afternoon session if required.
Up to four study spaces and two PC spaces (including one digital microfilm reader for newspapers) are available per session.
The Heritage Centre provides a wide range of free resources, including:
- Archive records
- Books
- The Heritage Centre has a collection of books on the history of the London Borough of Redbridge, Essex, and the surrounding London boroughs
- Building plans
- Census information
- Local newspapers and periodicals
- Maps
- Military resources
- Online resources
- The following websites are free to access from computers on the Redbridge Libraries network:
- Photographs
For specific enquiries, or to view archive records, historic photographs and building plans, please make a booking in advance.