England

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Towns & Parishes

Information related to all of Gloucestershire

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GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Archives and Libraries Bibliography Cemeteries Census Church History Church Records Civil Registration Correctional Institutions Description and Travel Directories Emigration and Immigration Encyclopedias & Dictionaries Gazetteers Genealogy Historical Geography History Land and Property Law and Legislation

Maps Medical Records Merchant Marine Military History Names, Geographical Names, Personal Newspapers Nobility Occupations Politics and Government Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc. Postal and Shipping Guides Probate Records Religion and Religious Life Schools Social Life and Customs Societies Taxation Towns & Parishes

Description in 1887

"GLOUCESTERSHIRE, a west Midland county [Map (above) shows location], situated upon the estuary of the Severn, and bounded north and north-east by Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire; by Oxfordshire; south by Berks, Wilts, and Somerset; and west by Monmouthshire, Herefordshire, and the estuary of the Severn; greatest length, south-west to north-east 54 miles; greatest breadth, north-west to south-east, 33 miles; area, 783,699 acres; population 572,433. The face of the county shows varied aspects, of which the most distinctive are the Cotswold Hills, in the east; the valley of the Severn, in the middle; and the Forest of Dean, in the west. Besides the Severn there are numerous important rivers, such as the Avon, Lower Avon, Wye, Thames, and Windrush. The canal system has been largely developed, and several important water-ways of that description pass through the county. Agriculture forms the leading occupation of the rural population; in the hills sheep-farming receives attention; while the rich valley of the Severn has long been famed for the superiority of its products. Its luxuriant pastures especially have originated and supported a great industry in the shape of dairy farms which produce the celebrated Glo'ster cheese. In the west of the county are 2 great coal fields - the Forest of Dean on the north, and the Bristol coal-field on the west. Other minerals are gypsum, barytes, quartz, limestone, and freestone. The manufactures are mostly woollen and cotton stuffs, but at Bristol there are also large hardware manufactures." (Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887.)

INFORMATION RELATED TO ALL OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE

1. All Gloucestershire pages may be searched using the GENUKI Search engine. The GENUKI Parish Locator may be used to identify which town or parish a place is located in.

2. There is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file for these Gloucestershire pages.

3. Researchers may find one or more of the Gloucestershire Mailing Lists useful in their research; and Gloucestershire Surnames are listed within Graham Jaunay's On-line English Names Directory.

4. Volunteers are being sought to help to transcribe the 1861 and 1891 Censuses for South Gloucestershire & Bristol, to make the whole part of a free searchable database online. Visit the FreeCEN web site for more details, and if you'd like to volunteer.

5. A list of the major items (including external links) in the Gloucestershire section of GENUKI is provided on a separate page of Quick Links.

Archives and Libraries

• Gloucestershire - Archives and Libraries - links and information.

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Bibliography

• Tobacco Growing in the Vale of Evesham, Winchcombe and District. by Gerald H. Stratford; trancribed by Colin Hinson. Added 16 Nov 2005.

• Ralph, Elizabeth and Hardwick, Nora M - Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book 1532 - 1565. Published by Bristol Record Society, 1980. Three Volumes: Vol II, 1542-1552; Vol III, 1552-1565.
  Probably out of print, but second hand copies can be found through online bookstores such as Ambra Books (see also below), and John Townsend - Antiquarian Books.

• Various old books relating to Gloucestershire have been scanned, and are available via the Archive CD Books Project. NB: one of the CDs available is of Bigland - Historical, Monumental and Genealogical Collections Relative to the County of Gloucester. Ralph Bigland - 1786 as described below under Cemeteries.

• Salter, Mike - The Old Parish Churches of the Forest of Dean. Folly Publications.
  • ISBN 1-871731-07-0.
  I can recommend this book personally - like others in his Old Parish Churches series, it is extremely well-researched, and for me, a regular source of reference.

• The Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society's excellent Gloucestershire Record Series - specialist books, frequently derived from original source material and relating to the history of Gloucestershire.

• Ivor Cornish, of Ambra Books, specialises in Buying and Selling Antiquarian and Secondhand Books, relating to Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Note also his Bristol Record Society and Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Transactions.

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Cemeteries

• Photos and transcriptions of notable church monuments, provided by the Church Monuments Society. Added 28 Aug 2007.

• Roll of Honour - Gloucestershire - War Memorial Selection. Added 5 Aug 2005.

• Monumental Inscriptions for Family Historians - information on Locating Gravestones and Cemetery recording, provided by Rod Neep.

• Ralph Bigland visited many of Gloucestershire's graveyards in the late 18th Century, and recorded the contents of the Memorials he found in a series of 4 volumes, available in the Gloucestershire Record Office. These volumes represent a unique reference source, as many of the Monumental Inscriptions they record have now disappeared, either because the gravestones have been removed, or because their inscriptions are no longer visible.

  As well as the originals available in the Gloucestershire Record Office, reprints are also available, republished by the Gloucester Record Society, details as follows:-

  Historical, Monumental and Genealogical Collections relative to the County of Gloucester, ed. B. Frith, 1989-95, published by the Gloucester Record Society. (Volumes 1-4 : ISBN 0 900197 28 5, 0 900197 30 7, 0 900197 34 X and 0 900197 40 4), UK £30 each.

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Census

• Gloucestershire Census - links and information.

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Church History

• The Britannia, "America's Gateway to the British Isles" Index of Parish Churches features about 10 Gloucestershire Churches. A nice site, providing you can tolerate the constant invitations to take part in online gambling.

• John Wilkes has a series of stunning photographs of many Gloucestershire Parish Churches. His page of Parish Church Locations has a useful Regional Map showing the different areas of Gloucestershire.

• Several Gloucestershire churches are featured on Phil Draper's Church Crawler Website, devoted to news and information about churches in the UK, and worldwide, where the emphasis is on "less-well-known churches that do not appear on the tourist trails of the world". Phil has a particular interest in Bristol's Cathedrals, Churches and Chapels, and aims to feature them all on his site.

• You may also find it worthwhile searching in the GENUKI church database. Enter the name of the place in which the church is located:

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Church Records

• The Forest of Dean Parish Records Project - transcriptions (in progress) of baptisms, marriages and burials in Forest of Dean parishes for the period 1813-1901. The project has the full cooperation of the Gloucester Record Office, and results are free to access after a simple registration process. Volunteers are also being sought to assist with transcribing. Added 10 Jun 2006.

• The searchable LDS website - IGI and Familysearch

  Note on using IGI Batch Numbers:
  It is not always easy to locate your ancestors in the IGI using the search mechanisms provided at the above LDS site. Manually typing the batch numbers into the IGI search screen can be tedious. Hugh Wallis has made an exhaustive search of the likely ranges of batch numbers and created a database of those numbers and the source records that they apply to. A very powerful feature included is a hotlink from each batch number to the actual search engine provided at the Family Search site, including the ability to enter the surname you are looking for. This makes it very easy to search all the batches for a particular geographic location using just the last name you are searching for - something that is not possible directly from the LDS site without doing a lot of typing. This is Hugh Wallis's site.

• Gloucester Record Office provide a searchable Summary Catalogue, containing a full catalogue of all Anglican Parish Records in their keeping, and brief details of other collections they hold.

• S&N Gloucestershire Data CDs and Discs - various CDs are for sale including Gloucestershire material. Of particular interest are a series of CDs of Phillimore's Marriage volumes, of which the complete set of all 17 Volumes are available, with a discount of 50% if ordering them all.

• Stuart Flight's Gloucestershire Parishes lists material for parishes he has collected and transcribed, mainly in the Kings Stanley and Stroud areas.

• The Society of Genealogists web site has a list of their holdings of Parish Register Copies for Gloucestershire.

• Information on the location of Quaker Records in Gloucestershire provided by the Quaker FHS.

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Civil Registration

• Brett Langston has provided details of Gloucestershire Registration districts 1837-1930.

  Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained from the Superintendent Registrars at the following District Register Offices:

  • Bristol Register Office
  • Cheltenham Register Office
  • Cirencester Register Office
  • Forest of Dean Register Office
  • Gloucester Register Office
  • North Cotswolds Register Office
  • South Gloucestershire Register Office
  • Stroud Register Office

  Note: Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained locally only from the Register Office for the District in which they were issued - or if the District no longer exists, the Office to which its registers have been moved.

  If ordering from a District Office, please note the following:

  1. the cost of a certificate is £7.00 (from 1st April 2003) - send a Sterling cheque payable to the Superintendent Registrar plus return postage or two International Reply Coupons;
     
  2. the General Register Office (GRO) Index references (formerly available at St Catherine's House) are of no value;
     
  3. for marriage certificates, the precise place of marriage must be given;
     
  4. Civil Registration in England and Wales began on July 1st 1837.

• If you have a GRO reference, you can now order certificates online via the General Register Office's website, and their Certificate Ordering Service for the same price as locally.

  You can obtain a GRO reference in several ways:-

  1. Personal visit to the Family Records Centre in London.
  2. Searching microfilm or fiche at your local library.
  3. FreeBMD is an ongoing project to make the General Register Office (GRO) Indexes freely available online. More volunteers are needed and details of how you can help are available on-site.
  4. findmypast.com (formerly 1837online) - images of the complete BMD indexes from the GRO online. Fee payable
  5. Family Relatives - similar to findmypast where again a fee is payable - check out their 'Resources & Guidance' section for details.

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Correctional Institutions

• Liz Jack's Rogues' Gallery Photo Collection - photos of prisoners in Gloucester Jail for the year 1870 and 1880-1906 - is available for purchase on CD through her Hidden Heritage website. This complements the database of Gloucester Prison Records searchable via the Gloucester Record Office website. Added 15 Mar 2008.

• The Prison Service Museum near Rugby houses HM Prison Service's historical collection of exhibits, illustrating the history of imprisonment from medieval times to the present day. Housed in a converted stable block, the museum contains reconstructions of Victorian prison architecture, and exhibits include the last set of Gibbet Irons used in England. Smaller items include bone carvings and paintings made by prisoners in their cells, and a nineteenth century sampler embroidered by a female prisoner from her own hair

  Admission to the museum is by appointment only, please contact:-

  The Curator,
  HM Prison Service Museum,
  Newbold Revel,
  Rugby,
  CV23 0TH
  

  Tel: 01788 834168

  [Information compiled from "The Penal Lexicon Home Page", formerly at www.penlex.org.uk/pages/index.html.]

• Located at the north-east corner of the prison to the rear of the Central Police Station in Longsmith Street, Gloucester Prison Museum and Shop are open from Easter Tuesday to end of September. Monday-Saturday from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm, with limited opening at Bank Holidays.

  "The first ever museum to be part of a fully operational and working prison, the 'Old Gate Lodge' has been converted into a museum depicting the history of Gloucester Castle as a prison and its progress through to modern day operation."

  There is a small shop operated by the museum staff selling souvenirs produced specifically for Gloucester Prison Museum.

  The Governor,
  HM Prison and Remand Centre,
  Barrack Square,
  Gloucester,
  GL1 2JN
  

  Tel: 01452 529551 Fax: 01452 310302

  [Information compiled from "The Penal Lexicon Home Page", formerly at www.penlex.org.uk/pages/index.html.]

• Transcription listing Some Prisoners in Gloucestershire Jails during 1850 and 1851, by Phil Mustoe.

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Description and Travel

• The Geograph British Isles project - "aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of the UK and the Republic of Ireland..." Added 16 Jun 2007.

• Cotswolds Info - "Cotswolds Premier Tour and Travel Guide" has details of places of local, and historical interest in their 'Places of History' section.

• The Cotswold HyperGuide with particular reference to their History & Lore pages.

• The Royal Forest of Dean Official Web Pages, with particular reference to Dean History.

• Liz Jack's Glorious Gloucestershire Photo Collection on a set of CDs are available for purchase through her Hidden Heritage website.

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Directories

• OGRE Online Trade Directories - Mathews 1794 Directory of Bristol, provided by Richard Hopkins. Added 25 Feb 2006.

• S&N Gloucestershire Data CDs and Discs offer a searchable copy of Pigot's Directory of Gloucestershire, 1844 for sale on CD.

• Here is a full list of Ted Wildy's transcription of Pigot's Directory of Gloucestershire, 1830. Links to individual sections are also available from Individual Towns and Parish pages.

• Leicester University's Digital Library of Historical Directories for England and Wales.

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Emigration and Immigration

• For help finding your ancestors onboard ship - The Ships List - of particular interest are the large number of transcribed passenger lists, and records of some Marriages at Sea. Added 10 Dec 2007.

• Some Emigrants from Gloucestershire to Australia and New Zealand - brief biographical details of known emigrants.

• Wyatt, Irene - Transportees from Gloucestershire to Australia, 1783-1842, 1988. Published by The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. The definitive guide for anyone searching for a convict ancestor from Gloucestershire!

• Some Emigrants from Gloucestershire to Colonial and British North America - a list begun following a contribution from Leslie Mahler in 2002.

• Leslie Mahler and others have supplied a list of some New England colonists who originated in Gloucestershire, with references to full discussions.

• An extract of Notarial Records in New England relating to Gloucestershire is also available from Leslie.

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Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

• Entry for Gloucestershire, 1911 in a 1911 Edition Encyclopedia.

• A Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms, Dick Eastman/Randy Jones. Added 3 May 2007.

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Gazetteers

• Nigel Batty-Smith's site of UK Genealogy Archives - Gloucestershire has a description of the county from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5.

• The transcription of the section for Gloucestershire from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

• The transcription of the section for Miscellaneous Descriptions from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson. Included here are the descriptions of major topological features (rivers, hills &c.) and a descriptions of the county hundred divisions.

• You may also find it worthwhile searching in the GENUKI Gazetteer:-
  The GENUKI Gazetteer covers the whole of England, Wales and Scotland and can be searched by place-name (or part of a place-name) or Ordnance Survey Grid Reference (six-figure, eg SO500120). If there are multiple place-names matching the name you enter, you will be presented initially with a drop-down list of the matching place-names with their distances and bearings from Gloucester.

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Genealogy

• The Gloucestershire section of 'Curious Fox' - "The village-by-village contact site for anybody researching family history, genealogy and local history in the UK and Ireland". Added 29 Nov 2006.

• Sally Lloyd has a growing collection of information about Gloucestershire on her site The Parish Mouse. Added 22 Jul 2006.

• Graham Jaunay's Online English Names Directory covers this county.

• Alan Ward's Bristol Family History Research Guide - includes Bristol, Avon, Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

• The Gloucestershire Look-Up Exchange - a list of volunteers who hold reference material relating to Gloucestershire and who are willing to undertake small searches.

• There is a Bristol Look-Up Exchange hosted by Vance Mead - a list of volunteers who hold reference material relating to Bristol and who are willing to undertake small searches. Note: one of the available reference sources relates to the Hundred of Berkeley, and so covers a wider area than Bristol itself.

• Graham Thomas is assembling a South Cotswolds Genealogical Master Index to include material and links for selected parishes in the South Cotswold area.

• Details of Gloucestershire Mailing Lists - part of a much larger collection of "Genealogy Resources on the Internet" - pages maintained jointly by John Fuller, with Chris Gaunt.

• The Gloucestershire GenWeb pages, parts of the England GenWeb Project. These are in turn part of the British Isles GenWeb Project, and overall part of the World GenWeb hierarchy.

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Historical Geography

• English Heritage Viewfinder - site with historic photographs, searchable by county. Has some unusual ones of the Industrial Age which won't be found amongst the more usual postcard collections!.

• The Francis Frith Collection - a collection of over 700,000 photographs of the UK, Europe and the Middle East taken by the Victorian photographer Francis Frith.

• A Vision of Britain Through Time - information about your home area from the 2001 census, and from each British census back to 1801. Presented both as maps of the whole country and as graphs showing change over time.

• River Severn Tales - an account of life on the River Severn, and in particular Notable Dates in The History of The River Severn, illustrating how the Severn's presence has shaped events in the county. Almost all of the parishes bordering on the Severn are mentioned.

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History

• British History Online - digital library of medieval and modern sources of the history of the British Isles. Notable souces include Journals of the House of Commons and House of Lords, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, and the Victoria County History. Added 14 Oct 2005.

• Chris Phillips has compiled an index to place names mentioned in the titles of topographical articles in the published volumes of the Victoria County History. The index is available his Medieval English Genealogy web site, in the Victoria County History: Gloucestershire section.

• An Encyclopaedia of British History: 1700-1950 - useful for seeing local events against a national perspective. Scroll down the introductory page on this site to see topics - Monarchy, Child Labour, The Railways, &c.

• The Domesday Book site - "to enable visitors to find out the history of the Domesday Book and to give an insight into life at the time of its compilation". Note this site does not provide the original text, but does include a list settlements existing in 1086. Included Chepstow (now Wales).

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Land and Property

• Information about Gloucestershire Feet of Fines (land conveyances) - on Chris Phillips Medieval English Genealogy web site. Added 22 May 2007.

• Pat Johnson has a large collection of original Family Deeds. Abstracts, with name and parish indexes are provided onsite, with transcriptions of the full documents available for a modest fee. In addtion, the original deed may also be available for purchase if required. Added 3 Oct 2004. Updated 19 Sep 2007.

• The Harvard Law School Library's English Deeds Collection contains detailed summaries of some Deeds relating to Gloucestershire. The site 'Search' for 'gloucestershire' may be expected to return nine entries. Updated 27 Apr 2006.

• Robin Alston has created The Country House Database, a very useful reference source, "listing country houses in the British Isles from the late medieval period to ca. 1850, together with an index to all the families so far traced as having occupied them." Includes a section on Gloucestershire.

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Law and Legislation

• The Equity/Chancery Court Pleadings Database (on the Public Record Office's website) provides an online index to some of the Chancery Pleadings in series C6. Searches can be made by both name and place.

• Names from Criminal Registers (PRO Class HO 27) 1805-1816 are available for purchase on floppy disk or microfiche through Family History Indexes (the link to the Criminal Registers is part way down the page).

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Maps

• Access to various satellite map sites (Google, MS Live, &c.) via the convenient front end of Flash Earth. Added 16 Jun 2007.

• Gloucestershire Parish Maps for this site (link added 1 May 2005; but maps aren't new!).

• The London Ancestor site has maps from the 1885 Boundary Commissioners report for all parts of the British Isles, including Gloucestershire (Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1885)

• Map of Gloucestershire, 1805 produced by E.W. Brayley, and provided by Nicholas Adams.

• A most useful set of maps for the whole of England and Wales, showing parish boundaries, on a one inch to the mile scale, is available on CD-ROM for a modest price - see:

  Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Maps of England and Wales: Boundaries before 1850. Available on CD from History Data Service, UK Data Archive, 17 May 2001. SN: 4348.

• The Old Maps web site has a wonderful series of 1:10,560 scale historical maps for the whole of the UK available online. The Gloucestershire ones are dated circa 1887.

• The Genmaps site contains a fine collection of Old Maps of the British Isles for Genealogists and Historians. In particular, see Old Maps of Gloucestershire.

• The above Genmaps Links pages lists Great Britain - Medieval Maps, which in turn provides several maps including an intriguing Ecclesiastical Map of the British Isles in the Middle Ages, which shows the principal Monasteries, demonstrating some of the earliest centres of habitation and influence.

• Detailed Maps of the area you may be interested in Gloucestershire are viewable at the UK Street Map Page. The site provides a most useful service, with superb address searching and street map facilities for anywhere in mainland Great Britain.

• Clear, Large Type and Braille Maps. Added 11 Feb 2006.

  David Hawgood has produced Maps of Gloucestershire with Braille labels (large print labels) to help people with visual disabilities, with similar Tactile and large print Maps for other English counties.

  There is an article on David's website, Production of Tactile maps with Braille labels explaining how these maps have been produced.

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Medical Records

• Holdings of Lambeth Palace Library - a Directory of medical licences issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1535-1775 lists some early practitioners in Gloucestershire.

• Medical Heritage of Great Britain, a site produced by the Bath & Wessex Medical History Group, providing detailed information on a county level of the history of medical treatments, and locations of some associated buildings.

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Merchant Marine

• Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery - "all about the transatlantic slave trade and the effect on Bristol from the 1400s right up to today". Still under construction (3 Sep 2003) but promises to be an interesting site.

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Military History

• Two very comprehensive sites featuring Castles and Fortifications - CastleUK.net, and The Gatehouse. Added 3 Sep 2005.

• The Age of Nelson - a website providing general information about the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815, and specifically searchable databases of those present at Trafalgar (and more) and of all Commissioned Naval Officers 1787-1822.

• The Glorious Glosters, history of the Gloucestershire Regiments from 1694. Has copious lists of Casualties of notable campaigns - Crimean War, Indian Mutiny, Korea, et al.

• Names from Musters of the Gloucestershire (North & South) Militia 1781-82 are available for purchase on floppy disk or microfiche through Family History Indexes (the link to Militia Musters is part way down the page).

• Information about The Gloucestershire Regiment is available on Liz Jack's Hidden Heritage website.

• Men & Armour for Gloucestershire in 1608 / [compiled by] John Smith; a Muster Roll of fit and able bodied men.

  "The names and Surnames of all the able and sufficient men in body fitt for his Ma'ties service in the warrs within the City of Gloucester and the Inshire of the same, wherein are contayned the City of Glouc' and the Hundreds of Dudstone and Barton Regis, with their ages, personable Statures and Armours viewed by the Right honorable Henry Lord Berkley Lord Lieutenant of the said City and the County thereof by direction from his Ma'tie in the month of September, 1608."

  The list provides occupations, and a measure of age, and physique of the parties concerned by means of a key, for example:- John Bendall Brodeweaver - 1m. being decipherable using the following table:-

  The figure (1) sheweth the age of that man to bee about Twenty.
  The figure (2) sheweth the age of that man to bee about Forty.
  The figure (3) sheweth the age of that man to bee betwene Fyfty and threescore.
  The L're (p.) sheweth the man to bee of the tallest stature fitt to make a pykeman.
  The L're (m.) sheweth the man to bee of a middle stature fitt to make a musketyer.
  The L'res (ca.) sheweth the man to bee of a lower stature fitt to serve with a Calyver.
  The L'res (py.) sheweth the man to bee of the meanest stature either fit for a pyoner, or of little other use.
  The L'res (tr.) sheweth that at the takinge of this viewe, hee was then a trayned soldyer.
  The L'res (sub.) sheweth that the said man was then a subsidy man.;
  

  This is just to whet your appetite to give you a flavour of the kind of detail which is available.

  The original manuscript of Men and Armour is now on deposit at Gloucestershire Record Office. The printed version - Reference: Author(s): Smith, John, b.1567 [compiled by] John Smith - was republished in 1980 by Alan Sutton: ISBN/ISSN: 0904387496 as a limited edition of 400 numbered copies

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Names, Geographical

• Smith, A. H. (Albert Hugh; 1903-1967), The place-names of Gloucestershire. One of the English Place-Name Society Series; v.38-41. Cambridge: University Press (1964-1965). In 4 Volumes:
  1. The river- and road-names. The east Cotswolds;
     
  2. The north and west Cotswolds;
     
  3. The lower Severn Valley. The Forest of Dean;
     
  4. Introduction, bibliography, analyses, index, maps.
     
  
  
• St. Clair Baddeley, Welbore (1856-1945), Place-names of Gloucestershire : a handbook. Gloucestershire : J. Bellows, 1913.

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Names, Personal

• Graham Jaunay's Online English Names Directory covers this county.

• Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section: Indexes to parish returns towards the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral, ca.1678, with their Library Reference numbers. The returns themselves, which need to be consulted by personal visit, promise to be useful, as a record of those individuals who contributed, and in a number of instances those who did not. A number of the returns indicate status of the contributors, e.g. widow, or servant.

• Graham Thomas has provided some most useful information on Gloucestershire Names and their Occurrence - providing a very comprehensive analysis of Gloucestershire surnames over the ages. Please note there are two pages, with the second page concentrating on Early Surnames in Gloucestershire.

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Newspapers

• The Newspaper Library at Colindale - my current information (October 2007) is that the BL is going to close Colindale, transferring its archives to Boston Spa. Newspapers will be viewable on film only at the British Library, until such time as their holdings are digitised. See British Library Newspapers for up-to-date details of research facilities. Updated 23 Oct 2007.

• The Gloucestershire Echo & Gloucester Citizen.
• The Bristol Evening Post
  Has a News Search Archive, although one rather imagines their idea of an archive is last week!

  Links to Newspapers' sites are provided not only for the Newspaper content, but also because they may contain links to other items or sites of local interest.

• For other English Newspapers see OnlineNewspapers.com - England.

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Nobility

• Nigel Batty-Smith's site providing UK Genealogy Archives of Gloucestershire includes Heralds' Visitation of Gloucestershire, 1623, published by The Harleian Society, 1885 (follow the link to Visitation)

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Occupations

• The Worshipful Company of Curriers - information about the history of this trade. Added 1 Apr 2008.

• The Virtual Waterways Archive - "Hundreds of years of British waterway history brought together in one online catalogue". Added 19 Nov 2007.

• Pubs and Breweries of the Midlands past and present - select 'Pub Histories' for listings by county. Added 2 Nov 2005.

• Registers of the Company of Stationers, London : Apprentices from Gloucestershire, transcribed by Leslie Mahler.

• Records of Carpenters' Hall, London 1654-1694 : Apprentices from Gloucestershire, a list published originally in Gloucestershire Notes & Queries (N&Q, vol X, No. 91, 1914), transcribed by Rosemary Lockie.

• The Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust describes the beginnings, history and the restoration of this little-known Canal - "Building began at Over in 1793 at the height of 'canal mania'. The priority was to reach Ledbury so that revenue could be earned but the greatest obstacle was the 1¼ mile Oxenhall Tunnel.".

• The Restoration of the Severn Princess site looks at the efforts to restore the last Severn Ferry which plied between Aust, just north of Bristol, and Beachley, near Chepstow - working daily until the opening of the Severn Road Bridge. Unfortunately it is no longer available offline, but archived versions exist - thanks to the Wayback Machine - see Archived version of www.severnprincess.co.uk, and click on one of the listed dates. Note: these pages are well worth a visit, but as the link is to archived versions, some internal links may no longer work.

• A List of Coal Mines in Gloucestershire, 1880 - Mines in The Forest of Dean, giving the name of the Colliery, where situated and who owned it; list are provided by Kevin Davis as part of his Family History Archive.

• For further information about Coal Mining generally visit the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

• The Society of Brushmakers' Descendants assists those with Brushmaking Ancestors, or with an interest in discovering more about the brushmaker's trade.

• Some notes on Stroudwater Canal are available on Stuart Flight's Stroud Area page.

• The National Waterways Museum at Gloucester, sited in Llanthony Warehouse on Gloucester Docks. Relates the story of 200 years of Britain's Canals. Nice animated .gif features a Canal Boat in front of the Museum.

• Geoff Sandle's Gloucestershire Pubs site. Geoff is attempting to locate all old pubs and breweries in Gloucestershire from 1850. Archive material includes petty sessional divisional records dating from 1891 and 1903 and old county directories. (Kelly's etc.)

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Politics and Government

• Bristol City Council.

• Cheltenham Borough Council.

• Cotswold District Council.

• Forest of Dean District Council.

• Gloucester City Council.

• Gloucestershire County Council.

• South Gloucestershire Council.

• Stroud District Council.

• Tewkesbury Borough Council.

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• The Workhouse a site "dedicated to the workhouse - its buildings, its inmates, its staff and administrators, and even its poets..." created by Peter Higginbotham - promises to be a rich source of reference.

• The Rossbret Web site provides extensive information about Workhouses and Poor Law Institutions, but also includes Asylums, Almshouses, Gaols (Prisons), Dispensaries, Hospitals (Infirmaries), Reformatories (Industrial Schools), and Orphanages, in many cases listing individual premises.

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Postal and Shipping Guides

• Eunice and Ron's Shanahans Homepage has useful information on British Postal History.

  The Regency Collection has a section on Postal History, and also includes other interesting material relating to the Regency period - e.g. Turnpike Trusts, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, and more.

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Probate Records

• Rosemary Lockie has begun a collection of pages listing abstracts of Gloucestershire Probate Records You are invited to submit similar information from your own Wills collection, whilst at the same time, of course to use whatever information is there already for assistance in locating your own forebears. Many thanks to all the kind people who have already contributed their ancestors' Wills to this project!

• Leslie Mahler is the one responsible for setting this particular ball rolling. He began work in 1998, transcribing indexes to, and abstracts from early Gloucestershire Wills in an effort to trace his own Gloucestershire ancestors prior to the earliest parish registers. The periods he's covered so far are 1541-1545, and ALL Gloucestershire Wills dated 1619. Abstracts from specific locations are also available - check out his Early Gloucestershire Probate Records for further details.

• Confused as to which of the above collections to go for? Me too! See Gloucestershire Probate Records Online for an overview, and links to online collections elsewhere.

• In May 1999, a Genealogical Database became available in the Searchroom of the Gloucester Record Office containing details of all Wills proved in Gloucester between 1541 and 1858. This database is now available online - further details are available on the Gloucester Record Office official web page. NB: variant spellings in surname are grouped together in any search results, making this a very powerful research tool.

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Religion and Religious Life

• The General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) of the United Methodist Church has a list of John Wesley's Preachers, 1740-1791. Added 10 Jul 2006.

• John Blaylock provides Definitions of (Ecclesiastical) Words and Phrases used in his account of the History of Boulton St Mary's Parish Church (Derbyshire) - for example 'Advowson' , 'Curate', 'Rector', 'Tithes', &c.

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Schools

• A brief history of Education in England (3 parts).
  

• If you are interested in finding out whether your dearest school friends are also researching their family trees, check out Friends United, a site devoted to reuniting old school and college friends.

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Social Life and Customs

• Mother Bedford - "a website devoted primarily to the history of Old-Bedford County, Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War period" - a fascinating site including items of general historical interest eg:
  1. Apposite to the time of adding: The Celebration of Christmas.
  2. Examples of music our ancestors may have enjoyed: The Music of the 1770s: a Directory.

• Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 - The Gazetteer, compiled by Dr Samantha Letters is a catalogue of Markets and Fairs in Medieval England and Wales. First comprehensive National Survey, with detailed information about grants of Charters to all Market Towns.

• Victorian Social History: An Overview - Public Health, Education, Conditions of Life and Labour.

• Costume History - from Ancient Babylon through to 1990s - a very comprehensive site on Fashion and Dress through the ages. Has images to illustrate what my great*6 aunt Mary OUTRAM might have been wearing on top of her "second best stays", one of the items she left in her will of 1769 to a young female relative!

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Societies

• Bristol Record Society.
  At present no facilities for joining online, but an application form in MS Word format is available on their website.
• Local History Groups and Societies in Gloucestershire - searchable database of will provide information about Local History Societies for several towns and villages in the county.
• Bristol & Avon FHS
• Gloucestershire FHS
• Royal Forest of Dean FHS
• The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society
• Gloucestershire Local History - has links to many Local History Organisations.
• Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology

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Taxation

• The E 179 Database (on the National Archives website) contains detailed information about over 26,000 documents relating to the taxation of lay people in England and Wales between c.1200 and c.1700. These documents are likely to contain many names. An extract from one of these documents - Lay Subsidy Roll : E179/116/488 - is provided here, transcribed and contributed by Johan Winsser.

• In addition, the set of Lay Subsidies 1581-1595 (links to a PDF file) are available on The Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society website. Added 22 Dec 2007.

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INDIVIDUAL TOWNS AND PARISHES - See Alphabetical Listing

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