Cookies are small files saved on your computer, phone or tablet that allow us to store information about how you use The National Archives website, such as the pages you visit or any preferences you set. They help us to provide you with a better experience.
We use some essential cookies in order to make the website work, and some that are optional, including analytics cookies. We need your consent to use some of them. They cannot be used to identify you personally.
Why do we use cookies?
We use cookies to improve the services that we provide and to ensure they work for you by:
- Measuring how many people are using these services, so they can be made easier to use and there’s enough capacity to ensure they are working efficiently
- Enabling a service to recognise your device so you don’t have to give the same information several times during one task
- Recognising that you may already have provided a username and password so you don’t need to do it for every web page requested
We classify the cookies we use on our website in the following categories:
- Analytics cookies (optional)
- Functional cookies (optional)
- Essential cookies (non-optional)
We do not use any cookies for marketing or targeting purposes.
Analytics cookies
| Cookie name | What it does | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | This is installed by Google Analytics and is used to calculate visitor, session and campaign data, and to keep track of site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. | 2 years |
| _gid | Also installed by Google Analytics, this is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is performing. The data collected includes the number of visitors, the source (i.e. where a visitor has come from), and the pages visited in an anonymous form. | 48 hours |
| _gat_UA-2827241-1 | This is a pattern-type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. It is a variation of the _gat cookie which is used to limit the amount of data recorded by Google on high-traffic volume websites. | 24 hours |
Functional cookies
| Cookie name | What it does | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| dontAutoStartResultsTour | This cookie remembers if you have opted out of the tour option on Discovery. | 180 days |
Essential cookies
| Cookie name | What it does | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| nationalarchives-PHPCookie | This connects requests from the website to the analytics cookies. It stores no personal information. | Until you exit the browser |
| dontShowCookieNotice | This remembers whether you wish to view the cookie notice or not. | 90 days |
| cookies_policy | This saves your cookie consent settings. | 90 days |