10 August
Lord McNally, the Minister of State for Justice, visited the unusual home of thousands of important and historical documents - stored in a salt mine 150 metres underground.
Winsford Rock Salt Mine in Cheshire is used to store 31km of documents on behalf of The National Archives and is looked after by records management company DeepStore.
Watch the video of Justice Minister Lord McNally visiting Winsford Rock Salt Mine.
Treasure trove
The unique storage space is the size of 700 football pitches, stretches to 100 miles and is still growing as around one million tonnes of salt are mined every year.
The mine is an ideal storage facility for documents as it has consistent temperature and humidity levels and is naturally free from several dangers, such as ultraviolet light, rodents and flooding.
Lord McNally said: 'It is amazing to think that 150 metres underground is a treasure trove of interesting and historical documents belonging to the nation, all safely and securely stored for use now and preserved for future generations.'
He added: 'The deep storage facility at Winsford Rock Salt Mine provides an innovative approach to safeguarding information and the online copies offer the public the opportunity to access thousands of historical documents and a huge variety of interesting records. This enhances transparency by making more information accessible to everyone, something the Government is strongly committed to.'
Digitised records
Information stored in the salt mine includes 16th century court pleas and the naval service records of two distinguished First World War veterans: Henry Allingham, who was one of the last surviving First World War servicemen, and Claude Stanley Choules, the only surviving veteran in the world to have served in both world wars.
These, and many of the documents held in the deep storage facility, have been digitised. Go to Catalogues and online records to find out what's available.
