Herefordshire Wills Collections

This page provides details of compilations of Herefordshire Probate Records (Wills), either partial abstracts or indexes, online and in printed collections. The following are listed in reverse order of their addition to this page.

• Full transcripts of all pre-1700 Wills and Inventories for Ledbury and Eastnor may be found on the England's Past for Everyone - Probate Records webpages. These transcripts have been done by volunteers with the Victoria County History Trust for Herefordshire. Added 5 Jan 2011.

• Free access to digital images of Wills proved in Welsh ecclesiastical courts (including the Archdeaconry of Brecon) is available from National Library of Wales Wills and Probate Records. NB 8 Herefordshire parishes - Clodock, Dulas, Ewyas Harold, Llancillo, Michaelchurch Eskley, Rowlstone, St Margaret, and Walterstone were in the Diocese of St David's (Archdeaconry of Brecon) until 1852, after which they were transferred to the Diocese of Hereford. Added 18 Dec 2009.

• Calendar of Probate and Administration Acts, 1407-1550 in the Consistory Court of the Bishops of Hereford, with an Appendix of Abstracts of Registered-Copy Wills 1552-1581 - edited by Michael Faraday, published in June, 2009. Added 11 May 2009.

• The Longtown Historical Society Archive has abstracts of over 1,000 wills from 1660-1854 for the former hundred of Ewyas Lacy, including the parishes of Clodock (with the chapelries of Craswall, Llanveynoe, Longtown and Newton), Cusop, Llancillo, Michaelchurch Eskley, Rowlestone, St Margarets and Walterstone. Most of the area was within the Welsh Diocese of St David until 1852, and copies of the original Wills may be obtained from the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. [Information provided by Alan Stewart, 24 Jun 2007]

• Rob Burns invites submission of complete transcriptions of Wills for his countrywide site 'Wills for All'.

• DocumentsOnline, the National Archives (Public Record Office) collection of digitised images of public records has all Wills proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) available for download as .PDF files. Generally these will be for the more wealthy testators holding land or property in more than one county; in May 2003 there were 4,121 Wills of Testators resident in Herefordshire listed.

• There are many abstracts of Hereford Court Wills in the "Montgomeryshire Collections" (the Journals of the Powysland Club) compiled around the turn of the 19th/20th Centuries. Specifically, Volume 19 has an index of all Hereford Probates for Montgomeryshire parishes, plus a few for the borders with England, mainly of testators living on the Shropshire/Monmouthshire borders. Subsequent volumes, at least to Volume 27 contain selected abstracts of these wills. Thanks to John Speake for this information, and see also The Montgomeryshire Collections online for other selected items which may be of interest in the Journals.

• Parry, Lieut-Colonel G.S. - Genealogical Abstracts of Parry Wills, proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury down to 1810 with the Administrations for the same period. Published by George Sherwood. Thanks to Barbara Griffiths for this reference.

• Barbados records, wills and administrations, 3 vols: 1639-1680, 1681-1700 and 1701-1725, compiled and edited by Joanne McRee Sanders. Published Houston, Texas: Sanders Historical Publications, c1979-[c1981]
  Includes some mentioning relatives in Herefordshire. Thanks to Leslie Mahler for this information.

• Jones, Nansi C. Archdeaconry of Brecon probate records / Vol.1: Pre-1660. Published by the National Library of Wales, ISBN: 0907158390.

• Hereford (Diocese. Bishop), Calendar of probate and administration acts 1407-1541 and abstracts of wills 1541-1581 in the court books of the Bishop of Hereford / edited by M.A. Faraday and E.J.L. Cole. Published by the British Record Society. 1989. ISBN: 0901505242.

• Herefordshire Probate Records, a collection of abstracts begun by Rosemary Lockie in October 2000.

• An index to Probate Records 1700-1858 is available as one of the research services provided by Jean Dobson - herefordshireresearch.com (select the 'About' tab).

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