You may think that the records produced by landowners, both big and small, in the running of their estates would only be of interest for the history of aristocrats and the gentry. However, the archives created and gathered together by landowners usually contain records and information relating to many other aspects of local life. Quite often the biggest private collections in a record office will be those of an estate, though it worth remembering that some families still keep their papers in an estate office or at home.

Estate archives can include deeds, leases, rentals, surveys, accounts, maps, correspondence, receipts, household records, daily journals, wages books, sale catalogues and a variety of working papers belonging to the estate's steward or agent. All of these can help to build up a picture of the rural area covered by the estate - its agriculture and people living and working on it. Thus it might be possible to trace the history of a particular farm through several generations.

Very often landowners were connected with early industrial enterprises because of the natural resources found on their estates, such as coal and other valuable minerals underground. Consequently, information can be discovered about mines, water mills and other industrial activities which might not otherwise survive. Not all estates were confined to the countryside. The records of estates with property in towns show the development of building and housing.

As landowners were often local community leaders, active in local affairs, their archives contain records relating to local charities, school, churches and chapels, clubs, societies, politics and the magistracy and county administration.