Using County Record Offices to Further English Genealogical Research

Over the last few years I have found a new love: county record offices. County records are an underutilized tool for English genealogical research, possibly because of the cost of the records or lack of knowledge on how to find these offline records.

Genealogical research in England can be fairly straightforward, except for when it is not. Many researchers use census records, church records, probate records, and civil registration records. And while those are definitely my most used resources, there are many, many other records that can be accessed. These can be especially useful when the more typical records are not available or when trying to break down that brick wall.

County record offices (sometimes called archives) hold many of these valuable records. Prior to records being held in county record offices, they were stored in parish chests, libraries, manors, law offices, personal collections, and other locations. Over the last hundred years, record offices were established. While records are still stored in other locations, county record offices hold many records that might be useful to a researcher.

What can be found in county record offices?

While I can’t list every type of record one might find at a county record office/local archive, nor can this post explain what all of the records are, this might give you ideas of what else to look for. Each record office or archive likely has a listing of their collections. To give a general idea of some of the records that can be found, I have compiled a list of some that I have found useful or that I have searched for hoping they would be useful.

  • Quarter Sessions
  • Parish records
  • Probate records
  • Parish Chest records
  • Land/Deed records
  • School records
  • Electoral records/Poll books
  • Trade directories
  • Cemetery records
  • Gravestone records
  • Business records
  • Maps
  • Newspapers
  • Building plans
  • Tithe apportionments
  • Solicitor records
  • Hospital records
  • Photographs
  • Police/prison records
  • Local histories
  • Guardian records
  • Misc. indexes

Accessing records

Most county record office websites have lists of collections to give an idea of what is available. Some have an index which allows surname and location searches to see if any records can be identified. Once you have identified a record you want to access, you can usually order the record directly from the record office. While most records are available to the public, that doesn’t mean they are free. I have had to pay for all records I have received from record offices or archives. Not all record offices have the staffing to allow remote orders and you may have to either go to the location yourself, find a volunteer, or hire someone to obtain the records for you.

Some records have been microfilmed or digitized by one or more of the big genealogical companies. However finding them in their databases may be difficult if you don’t know what to look for. Searching with keywords or directly in a record set may prove useful. Tips for this could be a post on its own.

Some records I’ve ordered directly from an archive

  • An unproved will. I looked in all the regular record sets for the will of a particular individual without success. I was fairly certain there was a will based on family stories. I decided to check the county record office website and the will was indexed! It was part of a land packet and used as justification to transfer ownership of cottages from one individual to another. The land packet also included records going back a couple of centuries including primarily wills and other probate records for each generation. There were 29 documents in total containing more information than I have had time to adequately sort through.
  • Marriage bond (supporting papers for a marriage license).1 The marriage information was fairly well indexed on FindMyPast. However I wasn’t sure if there would be additional information on the paperwork that was not indexed. Previously unknown information (to me) included the groom’s occupation, the name of bondsman, and signatures of the groom and bondsman. While I have not yet identified the bondsman’s relationship, it is often a family member or a close friend.

Some records I’ve found on genealogical websites

  • Coroner’s inquest. I found the record set for West Yorkshire Coroner records and did name searches for family members that lived there. I found one inquest for a family member. The original record is at the West Yorkshire Archive, but the record has been digitized and is available online at Ancestry.com.
  • Manorial Land Records. A will for the brother of an ancestor mentions land held by copyhold. The manorial records included a book of land transactions. The physical land book is at the county record office. However, Family Search microfilmed the book, which has now been digitized, and access can be gained online at Family History Centers (now called FamilySearch Centers but I’m not used to that name yet!).

Side note

Many English genealogical records are held at county record offices, such as church and probate records. Many of these major record sets are available through genealogical websites. But they are not necessarily complete record sets. Some parish records are not available on the major websites and are only available at the county record office. Likewise, some parish records may be available online but may not include the entire collection (such as not the entire range of years).

If you can’t find what you are looking for on one of the genealogical websites, I recommend going to the county record office website next. You never know what can be found until you look!

  1. Technically this record was not ordered from a county record office. I ordered it from the Borthwick Institute, an Archive at the University of York. I decided to include it here because this type of record can sometimes be found at a county record office. ↩

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