GLOUCESTERSHIRE - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES, Gloucestershire
This web page contains information about the location and use of Archives
and Libraries for Gloucestershire-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
Libraries are where you'd expect to find the Census, and printed
local source material, such as Trade Directories.
If you're looking for assistance by post or email in Gloucestershire, the
Gloucestershire Record Office provides a Research Service.
Note: the Record Office also provides access to resources for
Local Studies, eg Census, Directories, Newspapers.
If nothing less than a personal visit will suffice, more detailed information, and
some useful comments based on our own experiences, are offered below.
-
The two major repositories for Gloucestershire source material are:
- The Gloucestershire Record Office
(GRO) - the major repository for parishes in the Diocese of Gloucester.
- The
Bristol Record Office holds records for the Bristol Diocese, which
included parishes in the south of the county - roughly speaking
those in the former County of Avon.
There are about 30 parishes listed as
Towns & Parishes in Gloucestershire,
for which original records may be found elsewhere. These are usually on
the county border, and were either formerly in Gloucestershire and now in an
adjoining county, or have moved to Gloucestershire from an adjoining county.
The associated Record Offices are:
Details of the appropriate
repository are provided on individual parish pages
under the Archives and Libraries section.
See also the
ARCHON (Archives On-Line) Information service for locations of
other Record Offices throughout the country.
Specific contents of the above Record Office Catalogues are
searchable independently using the
Access to Archives Database. This is a valuable resource - whilst
the original records are not available online, some of the catalogue entries
may be a revelation in their own right - for example there are lists of
Parish Chest papers (Settlement, Removal, &c.) available at Bristol
sufficiently informative to obviate the need to consult the original archives.
-
- Note: The Gloucestershire County Council website experiences periodic
reorganisation, so it may be that from time to time some of the links below might
not work. If that is the case, I suggest you visit
Gloucestershire County
Council's Home Page and use their search mechanism to locate your
area of interest directly.
- The
Gloucester Reference Library has a small selection of reference material of
interest to family historians, including copies of newspapers,
and a selection of Crockford's Clerical Directories. However please note the
Gloucestershire Collection of Local Studies reference material, formerly
in the Reference Library has now moved (as of January 2006) to the
Gloucestershire Record Office.
-
Local Studies Centres exist also in Cheltenham, Cinderford, Cirencester,
Stow on the Wold, Stroud and Tewkesbury.
See also
Libraries in South Gloucestershire
for information about libraries elsewhere in the county.
Some of them may have copies of Census on microfilm but you are strongly
advised to check availability in advance of your visit. Be sure to ask
to book a reader-printer if you wish to obtain photocopies.
- Information about research sources at
Bristol Public Library is accessible via the
FAMILIA
site, which also lists Family History Resources in Public Libraries
for the whole UK.
See also
FAMILIA - Gloucestershire and
FAMILIA - South Gloucestershire.
[The above information was transferred from the main GENUKI/Gloucestershire index page on 27 Aug 2003]
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[Created 27 Aug 2003. Last updated 25 Oct 2008 - 16:03 by Rosemary Lockie]
