A CEREMONY has been held to mark the renaming of a room at a city centre library in honour of a renowned York historian.

The Family History Room at York Explore, in Museum Street, has been renamed the Hugh Murray Room.

Members of the Civic Party, family, friends and representatives of the organisations with who Mr Murray was associated all attended the ceremony on the fifth anniversary of his death.

In addition, a plaque has been put up in the room with details about the historian.

Mr Murray, who published many books of interest in relation to York, died in 2013 aged 80.

His wife Jill generously donated his research papers to the City of York, and for the past three years Explore York Archives, in partnership with the Civic Trust and supported by a cohort of volunteers, has been cataloguing their content to make them available for public use.

People can view the Hugh Murray archives in the Reading Room at York Explore. Archivists suggest people view the online catalogue first at www.exploreyork.org.uk, then email archives@exploreyork.org.uk to make an appointment.

Archivist Laura Yeoman said: "It really is a valuable archive and we are delighted to be custodians of it here at York Explore.

"What makes this collection so special is that Hugh Murray had such a wide variety of interests.

"Its breadth of scope makes it appeal to a much larger audience, and we’re hoping that it’s going to be heavily used by the population of York and elsewhere in the years to come."

The Press has previously reported how Mr Murray had amassed a private library of several thousand books and tens of thousands of photographs dedicated to the city’s history.

He worked for British Rail for many years, working as assistant signal engineer for the entire Eastern region before retiring in 1988 and beginning a whole new life as a historian.

He began collecting books and old photographs, lecturing on different aspects of York’s history and writing about 20 books.

His first, published in 1980, was a history of the horse tramways of York.

Mr Murray died of mesothelioma more than 50 years after being exposed to asbestos, an inquest in 2013 heard.

Following his death, tributes were paid by former University of York vice-chancellor Sir Ron Cooke, who described Mr Murray as “an extraordinary man”.