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MONMOUTHSHIRE - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

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Archives and Librariesfor Monmouthshire-related family history research. Generally speaking, Archives(more commonly known as Record Offices) are repositories for original source material, such as Wills or Parish Registers, whereas the Local Studies Sections of Librariesare where you'd expect to find the Census, and printed local source material, such as Trade Directories

More detailed information, and some useful comments based on our own experiences, are offered below.

Record OfficesMuseumsLibraries

  • RECORD OFFICES

    • Gwent Archives
      General Offices
      Steelworks Road
      Ebbw Vale
      Blaenau Gwent
      NP23 6DN

    Gwent Record Office was formerly the Monmouthshire County Record Office prior to 1974. The modern county of Gwent comprises most of Monmouthshire and a small part of Breconshire. The remaining parts of Monmouthshire were transferred to the modern county of Glamorgan.

    Some records for the parishes of Llanfihangel-Y-Fedw/Michaelston-y-Fedw, in old Monmouthshire may be found at the Glamorgan Record Office.

    The National Library of Wales holds nearly all Bishops Transcripts and other diocesan records for Wales. The ancient dioceses covering Monmouthshire were Llandaff (most of the county) and St David's.

    Some records for the parishes of Dixton, Llangiwa / Llangua and Monmouth / Trefynwy are to be found at the Hereford Record Office.

    Finally, when all else fails... some parish records may still be held at the parish church - often with good reason, as perhaps a register is still in use. However please do not take too seriously any statement on individual GENUKI/MON parish pages that records are still kept by the Incumbent. Most parish registers will now be found at county Record Offices, so please do enquire there first.

    If parish registers are however still with the church, a statutory fee will be levied for searches, between £15-18 per hour.

    See also the ARCHON (Archives On-Line) Information service for locations of other Record Offices throughout the country.

    NB: Unfortunately, the splendid Access to Archives Database covers only Archives in England at present; however a comparable source is provided by Archives Network Wales - providing a quick reference source of documents held by Record Offices, universities and other bodies throughout Wales.



  • LIBRARIES

    Monmouthshire Libraries have recently acquired Ancestry Library Edition, available free in all libraries including Gilwern and Usk. This apparently means you can use the library facilities to search Ancestry.com