WORCESTERSHIRE
The information on this page, and on the accompanying
Town & Parish pages is organised by the set of subject
headings which the LDS Family History Library uses for categorising
genealogical research material. Below are the available headings for
Worcestershire; but see
How the information on this server is presented to the user for
further details, and for an overall list. [Hint: Press the "Back" arrow
on your browser's toolbar to return to this page after reading, as
there is no return link.]
Description in 1887
"WORCESTERSHIRE, west-midland County
[Map (above) shows location],
of England, bounded N. by Shropshire and Staffordshire, E. by
Warwickshire, S. by Gloucestershire, and W. by Herefordshire; greatest
length (not including the detached parts), NW. and SE., 36 miles;
greatest breadth, NE. and SW., 45 miles; area, 472,453 acres,
population 380,283. Worcestershire lies almost entirely in the basin
of the Severn, which receives the Stour; Teme, and Avon. The surface
is a broad undulating plain, broken in the NE. by hills of moderate
height, and in the SW. by the Malvern Hills, which reach an altitude
of 1395 ft. The soil, chiefly clay and loam, is very fertile. Wheat is
extensively grown, and there are numerous hop-gardens and orchards.
Large quantities of cider and perry are made. There are several
extensive and beautiful valleys (notably that of the Severn), with
rich pastures, and great numbers of cattle and sheep are fattened. The
strata consist for the most part of new red sandstone, lias, and
oolite; other formations are visible in the Malvern Hills and some
other districts. Coal and iron are found in the Dudley district, and
the manufacture of iron and steel and of hardware is extensive.
Carpets and rugs are made at Kidderminster, glass at Dudley and
Stourbridge, gloves and porcelain at Worcester, and needles and
fish-hooks at Redditch and Feckennam. Immense quantities of salt are
obtained from the brine springs at Droitwich. The Birmingham and
Worcester and other canals connect the Severn basin with those of the
Trent and Mersey." [Bartholomew's
Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887]
- All Worcestershire 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.
- Researchers may find one or more of the
Worcestershire Mailing Lists useful in their research; and Worcestershire
Surnames being researched are listed within Dave Newbury's
Worcestershire Surname Interests.
- Worcestershire Ancestors Project
This project aims to provide a "free-to-view" online
searchable database of all the 19th century
Worcestershire census returns. It is part of an initiative aimed at
helping make high quality primary (or near-primary) records of
relevance to UK genealogy conveniently and freely available
online.
It is hoped to launch the project by transcribing the 1891 census
returns for Kings Norton and then Dudley, using microfiche kindly
loaned to the Project for this purpose by
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The Project
makes use of specially developed software modules for data entry,
checking, validation and database upload, under the global name of
UK-CENS. The project was scheduled to start in January 2001.
Volunteers need a computer and access to a microfiche reader.
Microfiche, software, instructions and lots of advice will be supplied
by the organisers. There is also a dedicated mailing list to
ask questions on and to receive advice about changes or
upgrades to the software.
There are two phases. In the first, the volunteer transcribes a census
piece using whatever method suits them best, then uploads it to the
county coordinator. In the second phase the transcriptions will be checked
against the microfiche using a separate piece of software. The software
for both phases is designed to make the tasks as easy as possible.
Currently, the Devon and Cornwall 1891 returns are being transcribed
and checked and it is hoped that transcriptions will start uploading to
the online database in less than 12 months.
Anyone who wishes to volunteer as a transcriber/checker, please
contact the coordinator. This project is designed to help not just
ourselves and others who are researching
Worcestershire family history now, but to build a resource that will
help future family historians. It is also designed to appeal to all
online family historians. If you are online you can participate from
wherever you are!
- 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.
- The Society of Genealogists web site has a
list of their holdings of
Parish Register Copies for Worcestershire.
- Information on the location of
Quaker Records in
Worcestershire provided by the Quaker FHS.
- Copies of certificates of Birth, Death and Marriage may be obtained from either
the General Register Office (GRO), or from the Superintendent Registrar's Office in
the District they were first issued. If the District no longer exists, this would be the
Office to which its registers have been moved.
- If ordering from a District (Superintendant's) Register Office, please note the following:
- 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;
- the General Register Office (GRO) Index references (available via FreeBMD) are of no value;
- for marriage certificates, the precise place of marriage must be given;
- Civil Registration in England and Wales began on July 1st 1837.
Information about which Local Register Office to contact may be found in Brett
Langston's list of
Worcestershire Registration Districts (1837-1974).
- If you have a GRO reference, you can now order certificates through
the General Register Office's own website, and their
Certificate Ordering Service for the same price as locally.
You can obtain a GRO reference in several ways:-
- Searching microfilm or fiche at a Library or LDS Family History Centre.
- 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.
- findmypast.com (formerly 1837online) - images of the complete BMD indexes from the GRO online. Fee payable
- The images are also available on Ancestry.co.uk for which
a subscription provides access to a wide range of other records.
- Nigel Batty-Smith's site of
UK Genealogy Archives - Worcestershire has a description of the county
from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5.
- The transcription of the section for Worcestershire 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 Worcester.
- Details of
Worcestershire Mailing Lists - part of a much larger collection
of "Genealogy Resources
on the Internet" - pages maintained jointly by John Fuller, with Chris Gaunt.
- Surnames being researched in the county of Worcestershire -
Worcestershire Surname Interests - compiled by Dave Newbury.
- Worcestershire Look-up Exchange . NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
- The
Midlands Historical Data
project produces searchable facsimile copies of old local history books
and directories of interest to genealogists. It specialises in the three
counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, working
closely with libraries, archives and family history societies in the area.
Digital images are made freely available to participating organisations
to improve public access. Free search index on its web-site to all its books.
- Sally Lloyd has a growing collection of information about Worcestershire
on her site
The Parish Mouse.
-
RootsChat Messaging Forum - Worcestershire section.
- A digital library of medieval and modern sources of the history of the British Isles -
British History Online.
Notable sources include Journals of the House of Commons and House of
Lords, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, and the Victoria County History.
Added 10 Mar 2009.
- 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.
Added 10 Mar 2009.
- The Domesday Book Online
"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.
- Some abstracts of
Worcestershire Feet of Fines (land conveyances) covering 1422-1509 - on
Chris Phillips
Medieval English Genealogy web site.
- Mike Durtnall is providing a country-wide collection of
Historical Manuscripts
Pages recording details of deeds that have been offered for sale on eBay
and in auction catalogues. In most cases whereabouts of the documents will be
unknown, but sufficient details of the property involved and of buyers, sellers,
mortages, &c. is provided to make them a useful research tool.
Added 10 Mar 2009.
-
Worcestershire section
of Pat Johnson's Family Deeds website, providing full transcripts
of old deeds and documents, the originals of which are for sale to
finance further purchases and transcripts.
-
Returns of Owners of Land in 1873 - searchable database.
- British
History Online - Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 Maps -
The County Series of Ordnance Survey maps for Great Britain.
Begun in 1840, this is the first comprehensive historic mapping of
England, Scotland and Wales.
- The Old Maps web site
has a wonderful series of 1:10,560 scale historical maps for
the whole of the UK available on-line.
- The
Workhouse (by Peter Higginbotham) covering England, Wales,
Scotland and Ireland, with history, locations, pictures, etc.
-
Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs to 1516 was compiled by
Dr Samantha Letters at the Centre for Metropolitan History, and is
organised by county. It includes a brief summary of
the early history of many large and small places, with details of
markets and fairs and the people granted the right to hold them.
This county is maintained by
Rosemary Lockie with help and information
provided by a number of other volunteers.
[Beginning on 9th March 2009 - created originally by Peter Abbott]
© Copyright GENUKI and Contributors 1996-2009, &c.
GENUKI is a registered trade mark of the charitable trust GENUKI, see
About GENUKI as an Organisation
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URL of this page: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WOR/index.html
[Created by Peter Abbott. Last updated 24 Apr 2009 - 18:06 by Rosemary Lockie]
