How to look for records of... Environmental History

How can I view the records covered in this guide?

How many are online?

  • Some

1. Why use this guide?

This guide will help you to find records held at The National Archives that relate to environmental history. It will also direct you to records held elsewhere. The advice in the guide will help you to find original records, related to:

  • Colonial environmental management
  • Legislation on conservation, pollution, and climate change
  • Water management
  • Agriculture
  • Conservation

A search for documents at The National Archives usually begins in our online catalogue. The catalogue contains short descriptions of the records and a document reference for each – you will need the document reference to see the record itself. You can search the catalogue using keywords, such as names and locations, and dates.

If you restrict your search to records held by The National Archives, the search results will show a panel summarising the number of search hits by government department, which can help you filter and focus your search results.

Many of the records in this guide are explicitly related to environmental topics, but others, such as the records of the Admiralty, were not created as records of environment but still contain a wide range of relevant material. The thematic sections in this guide suggest ways to locate records that are not necessarily grouped by series.

In many cases there will be nothing in the record description to indicate whether it is specifically relevant to environmental history. You will need to be creative and speculative in how you search. Consider the historical context and use terms that were used at the time.

You can use advanced search to narrow your results by date range or by department reference—usually shown as two or three capital letters at the start of a record reference (e.g. CO for Colonial Office). Other sections of this guide will give you some ideas about which National Archives departments and series to search within.

Different series are catalogued to varied levels of detail and some records may not be catalogued in a way that can be keyword searched. Where this is the case, this guide will link to other research guides giving advice on how to search.

2.1 Offensive language and terminology

When conducting research at The National Archives, you may encounter language that is outdated or offensive. We retain original titles and descriptions because they reflect the historical context and viewpoints of the time in which the records were created. Preserving this terminology is essential to maintaining the integrity of the archival record.

Our online catalogue does not include content warnings, so please be mindful when browsing or ordering records. To learn more, see our guidance on offensive terminology in The National Archives catalogue.

To help us better support researchers, including with catalogue navigation — we welcome your feedback through Your Views.

3. Online Resources

The following digital packages include material from The National Archives relating to environmental histories (these can be accessed onsite at The National Archives or with subscription):

4. Colonial and Global Environments

British colonial officials were responsible for many aspects of environmental management across the Empire, including forestry, mining, transfers of profitable plants, management of plantations, and surveying land. Records of these activities can provide information on most regions in the British Empire. Records of the India Office are held at The British Library.

These topics can be found in a wide range of records and record series, including:

  • Colonial natural history exploration – Admiralty (ADM)
  • Plantations and land use in colonies – Colonial Office (CO)
  • Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies (CO 617)
  • Various research institutes and councils (several series within AY)
  • Imperial Bureau of Entomology (correspondence in CO 323)
  • Colonial Office Photography Collection (CO 1069), the British Empire Collection of Photographs (INF 10). See our photography research guide
  • Colonial office map library – CO 700, CO 1047, and CO 1054

See our research guides to Colonies and Dependencies, Foreign Office records, and Guide to Colonial Office Indexes for more details and advice on how to search or use indexes and registers. Indexes can provide direction when researching a broad topic related to environmental histories e.g. cinnamon, botany.

Other sections of this guide may also include records relevant to research on overseas regions, including on pollution, water, and conservation.

4.1 Natural resources, Botanic gardens and forestry

Colonial Office records contain details about the movement of natural resources around the Empire, such as records about colonial mining of products including gold, coal, diamonds, bauxite and the aluminium industry.

The Colonial Office also holds correspondence relating to botanic gardens and stations set up to support the production and movement of valuable plant products, managed by Kew gardens.

Colonial Office records relating to forestry include correspondence and publications about the creation of forestry departments, the employment of Forest Officers, Forest Reports, discussions of deforestation and tree planting, and the establishment of the Imperial Forestry Bureau.

The records of the Forestry Commission (F) from 1910 contain details on early twentieth century Empire Forestry Conferences.

4.2 Shipping, ship’s logs or journals

Ships logs and surgeons or medical journals held in the Admiralty series (ADM) often record the transfer of plants and seeds on voyages, where medical professionals served as botanists, including sketches of plants and animals. See for example ADM 55, ADM 101, and ADM 1. Refer to our guides to

Similar records on the trade in plant products such as rum, cotton, sugar, indigo, tobacco can be found in the Prize Papers (HCA) when plants and seeds were captured as part of a ship’s cargo, and the records of the Royal African Company (T 70). See our research guide on the High Court of Admiralty.

Records in each of these series describe histories of enslavement, but can also contain descriptions of the environmental knowledge of Black and Indigenous people. Search within these series for terms such as ‘indigenous’ or ‘native’ AND ‘plant’, or the name of a specific ship or plant product such as ‘indigo’ or ‘cinnamon’.

4.3 Plantations

Records about colonial plantations can be found in series including: CO 700, PWLB, and T 70. For advice on searching refer to our guide to Slavery and the British transatlantic slave trade.

4.4 Research institutes

Records about research institutes exploring topics including fuel, nuclear science, and water pollution can be found under the reference AY Records of Various Research Institutes and Councils.

4.5 Maps

More information on locating maps which record colonial land boundaries can be found in our Maps and plans research guide.

5. Environmental Legislation

For all current and past legislation see Legislation.gov.uk.

You can search our catalogue with the name of an individual act, such as the Clean Air Act of 1956, for which there are records in series including HLG 55 and HLG 120 (Ministry of Housing and Local Government) and COAL 28. These records will be the government departments responses to the Act and its administration.

Other relevant legislation includes the Alkali Act 1863, on industrial pollution, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, on the protection of native animals and plants, and the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which covers waste management and emissions control.

5.1 Recent environmental policy

The UK Government Web Archive is a useful resource for researching contemporary environmental histories. Some of the earliest webpages archived as part of the UKGWA in 1996 were from the Environment Agency. When searching the web archive, results are organised by the frequency of the term on the webpage, so using precise search terms can improve the quality of your search.

6. Pollution and climate change

To search for records relating to pollution and climate change, try searching:

  • terms such as ‘emissions’ with ‘vehicle’ or ‘carbon’
  • terms used before the phrase ‘climate change’ was adopted, including ‘global warming’ and ‘ozone’ may produce more results
  • ‘contamination’ or ‘pollution’; these terms will return many results
  • names of specific contaminants or harmful substances
  • names of places where contamination or other kinds of environmental damage has occurred
  • names of natural disasters, such as ‘floods’ or ‘earthquakes’ plus dates
  • names of industrial sites, such as ‘gas works’, ‘steel plants’, ‘oil refineries’, ‘tanneries’, ‘chemical factories’
  • broad terms such as ‘dangerous substances’, ‘chemical processing’, or ‘oil spills’

Many different government departments may contain information about environmental pollution and damage.

6.1 The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution was established as a standing body by Royal Warrant in February 1970 to advise on matters, both national and international, concerning:

  • the pollution of the environment
  • the adequacy of research in this field
  • the future possibilities of danger to the environment

Click here for a broad breakdown of the records of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution held by The National Archives.

The Commission closed in 2014. To find out more about its role, see its archived website on the UK Government Web Archive.

6.2 Specific chemicals and substances

You can search our catalogue for records relating to particular pollutants simply by searching with the name of the substance.

6.3 Mining

There is a large amount of material on coal mining and other types of mining among our records, especially when it took place on Crown land. For more detailed information on these records see our guide to Mines and Mining.

6.4 Pesticides

The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD), an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is responsible for the administration of systems for pesticide licensing, approval and control for the protection of wildlife and plant life. Search in MAF and SE (Health and Safety Executive) files for records of the PSD. Try searching for individual pesticides such as DDT.

6.5 Radioactive waste

Under the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1945 and the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government were made jointly responsible for authorising the discharge of radioactive waste from nuclear installations.

Some key records are among the files of the:

  • Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in MAF 209
  • Department of the Environment and predecessors in HLG 120 (many relate to named sites)
  • Department for Energy in EG 2
  • Hinkley Point C Inquiry in EG 4
  • UK Atomic Energy Authority are in the AB
  • For the disposal of radioactive waste at sea, see FO 371
  • For atomic trials in Australia, see DEFE 16

6.6 Military damage

First World War files about crashed aircraft in Britain are in AIR 1. For more information, see the guide on RAF operations.

Files on the dumping of ammunition at the end of the Second World War, mostly overseas or at sea, are held among:

The records of all the defence departments contain information about experiments with, and the use and production of, chemicals, plastics and other synthetic materials of all kinds. For records relating to explosives and the Royal Gunpowder Factories at Waltham Abbey and Faversham, see WO 385 and WO 397. Records of the Explosives Research and Development Establishment are in AVIA 67.

6.7 Environmental protest

Records of protest relating to climate change and the environment can be found in various series. These include records on protests around the development of the Hinkley Point nuclear power stations in EG 4, or the work of International non-governmental organizations in the records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Marine and Transport Department (FCO 76). Try searching for specific environmentalist organisations including Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, or Friends of the Earth.

Some of these records may be closed, see here for information on making a freedom of information request.

7. Water management

For records about waterways including springs, rivers, canals, estuaries and ponds, search the name of a waterway or a type of waterway, such as:

  • Canals and inland waterways – ZLIB 3 (publications held by British Transport Historical Records Office library)
  • Wetlands, fenlands and drainage – Duchy of Lancaster (DL), for records on land drainage see C 225 Commissioners of Sewers: Laws, Ordinances and Decrees of Sewers

Records relating to the privatisation of water authorities in England and Wales in 1989 can be found in series including T 560. See RD 3 for records of the National Rivers Authority: Board Minutes and Papers, which oversaw duties not covered by private regional water authorities.

Records relating to land drainage, flooding and coastal defences created by the agriculture departments can be found in various series including MAF 49 and MAF 77.

Records relating to flooding and emergencies are in MAF 220, MAF 221, and MAF 406 (Coast Protection Survey of England dataset).

For records relating to marine environments and international waters:

  • Oceans and international waters – see FCO 76 on the Law of the Sea, marine pollution, the International Whaling Commission, and deep sea mining licences, and MT 9 for pollution from shipwrecks
  • See also section 9 for information on fisheries

7.1 Water Pollution:

  • Reports of the Standing Commission on River Pollution are in MAF 326
  • Records of the River Pollution Joint Advisory Commission in MAF 49
  • Records about bathing water monitoring are in the Bathing Water Directive database (RD 1), including analytical results of water samples used for bathing water reporting

Try searches for references to pollutants such as sewage works, breweries, industrial waste, fertilisers, and tanneries.

Many of these topics overlap with records on public health. For records relating to water borne diseases such as cholera see our research guide on Public health and social policy in the 19th century.

8. Agriculture

The National Archives holds records relating to agricultural land use and ownership.

To find records about common land and enclosure awards see our research guide to Land ownership, use and rights: common Lands.

See our guide to Agricultural statistics of England and Wales for records about food supplies and the collection of crop production data.

See also our guide to the National Farm Survey of England and Wales 1941-1943 for how to search for maps of farms which record land ownership and land usage in mid-20th century Britain, as well as our guide on Land Requisitioned for War.

The records of the Rural Development Commission (D), a Royal Commission set up in 1909, hold information on funding used to benefit the rural economy of England.

Records within the Ministry of Food and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food relating to food history include Food Supply and Consumption (MAF 243), food consumption levels (MAF 358), and the National Food Survey from 1956 in MAF 300. See section 4 for methods of searching for specific food plants in the context of colonial food production and trade.

Digitised versions of many of our records relating to food and drink histories can be found in the AM Digital Food and Drink in History resource.

9. Conservation and animals

Records relating to conservation, including of plants and animals, can be found in the following series:

  • The Nature Conservancy and English Nature (FT), including FT 1 on individual species, and FT 14 on the creation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
  • The National Parks commission and Countryside Commission (COU) and later the Countryside Agency (CA), including the Visual Resources Unit in COU 11 for photographs of national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty
  • Natural England (SW) – formed in 2006 bringing together parts of the Countryside Agency and English Nature
  • Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) website on the UK Government Web Archive (MAF 541), and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in FCO and FT
  • The Dixon Scott Collection photographs (INF 9) include depictions of countryside, towns and villages in the British Isles mostly during the post-WWI period, including subjects such as flowers, bee keeping, and clouds

The records we hold relating to animals mostly describe human interactions with animals through legislation and conservation policies, or copyrighting images. Records about animal species can be found in relation to:

  • Game laws and hunting licenses and their evolution into conservation and reserves – try searching for ‘game’ and ‘preservation’ or ‘regulation’ in series such as FO and CO, or ‘endangered species’ within FCO
  • Information on fisheries and their regulation, including in the early modern period, can be found in series such as HCA and CO
  • Visual records of animals can be found in COPY 1, which contains copyrighted images, and INF 10, the British Empire Collection of Photographs
  • Animal products can be found in series such as BT, CO, or AY – try searching for ‘hides’, ‘skins’, or ‘leather’

10. Further reading and resources

Further records related to the topics above can be found in our guide to garden history records held at other archives. You can use our Find an Archive tool to identify other relevant archives.

Read our article on the colonial movement of spices in War Office records.

For a similar resource relating to collections at the British Library, including the India Office, see here.

A helpful timeline of the history of the Natural Products Institute and its predecessors can be found here.

For further resources on animal histories, see our Resource Pack on navigating animal encounters in the archive. Watch a recording of our session on Extinction and Hope as part of the Research Routes series here.

Further research related to pollution can be found in our Resource Pack from the Talking Records: Pollution in the Archive Symposium.

Lucy Razzall, Lora Angelova, and Elizabeth Haines, ‘From Habitat to Service Equipment: The British Government Book as Container in ‘the Tropics’, Inscription: The Journal of Material Text – Theory, Practice, History (2025)