The Bedford Borough Historic Environment Record (HER) is the main source of historic environment and heritage information for Bedford Borough.
It contains information about historic buildings, archaeological sites and finds, including:
- a computerised database
- supporting paper records
- copies of historic maps
- historic aerial photographs and slides
- a library
The HER is held in Borough Hall, Bedford. It is open to the public, strictly by appointment only.
Appointments are limited so please give as much notice as possible.
Some information is available digitally so we prefer to send this to you in the first instance.
How to access the Historic Environment Record
You can search a list of summary records for the borough via Heritage Gateway.
Where appropriate some users must agree to pay a licensing charge before obtaining access to the HER.
Information is usually supplied in digital form. In some cases it will also be necessary to visit to view items only available in hard copy.
Commercial enquiries
We process straightforward commercial enquiries within 10 working days. More complex enquiries may take longer.
We offer a a priority service for an extra fee to provide information within 2-5 working days. We cannot guarantee to provide this service at all times.
Copyright information
We charge for:
- licensing the commercial re-use of HER information
- advice given in our role as specialist archaeological advisors to the local planning authority
For further details and charging rates please refer to our charging schedule (PDF).
Contact the Bedford Borough HER
Please email us at: archaeology@bedford.gov.uk for full information and for commercial enquiries.