Breconshire

Powys Archives Provide a series of Local Studies Notes with Sources for Family History and a Guide to Holdings

The National Library of Wales. Aberystwyth. The major repository of information relevant to Welsh genealogy, such as Bishop's Transcripts of Parish Registers, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, Nonconformist Records, Probate Records, Tithe Maps and Apportionment Schedules, Legal and Administrative Records, Estate Records and Personal Papers, Pedigree Books, Newspapers, etc.

Brecon Area Library Ship Street Brecon Powys LD3 9AE Telephone: +44 (0) 1874 623346 E-mail: brecon.library[at]powys.gov[dot]uk Opening hours: Mon 9:30-17:00; Tue 09:30-19:00; Wed to Fri 9:30-17:00; Sat 09:30-13:00 The library holds copies of Breconshire Census Returns 1841 to 1901.

Powys Museums and Galleries

The National Archives has details of many archive repositories in the UK with links to their websites.

Search the on-line catalogue (off line 7/21) of the London Family History Centre (formerly the Hyde Park Family History Centre). The London FHC is one of more than 4,800 Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the largest such centre outside of North America, and one of more than 100 centres in the British Isles. It holds a good collection of finding aids and a significant collection of primary records, mostly on microfilm. Records are chiefly drawn from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) In addition to the RCAHMW's on-line Archive Catalogue there is also a Chapels database which will eventually list all known nonconformist chapels in Wales.

Here is a substantial reading list for Brecknockshire

MIs held at Powys Archives - Breconshire

Welsh Gravestone Inscriptions and Graveyard Welsh - guides to interpreting Memorial Inscriptions.

Graveyard Surveys - Over the past twenty years, Gareth Jones has produced surveys of the graveyards of over fifty churches and chapels. Each survey is reproduced on A4 sheets with introduction, full inscriptions, and indexes to personal names and place-names. Some of these surveys are large, e.g. the parish churchyards at Defynnog, Llywel, and Ystradgynlais, and Tynycoed Chapel, Abercrâf. Other Breconshire parishes covered include Llandeilo'r Fân, Llanfihangel Nant Bran, Merthyr Cynog, Llandyfaelog, Llanfihangel Fechan, Battle, Brecon (St David's & St John's), Aberyscir, and Trallwng. Gareth's family has donated all his research to Powys FHS. His publications will all eventually appear on the PFHS site.

Breconshire Records for sale by Powys FHS

Brecon Area Library, Ship Street, Brecon, LD3 9AE. (01874) 623346 has copies of 1841 - 1901 census returns for all of Breconshire - as have Powys Archives

FreeCEN is an ongoing volunteer based project to provide a 'free to view' online searchable database of the 19th century UK census returns. The 1891 return is the first to be tackled across the UK.

Carry out initial searches on all censuses 1841-1911  on  LDS Family Search  - using basic data supplied by Find My Past (subscription site) and all follow up searches are directed there

Church Plans Online - the Lambeth Palace Library holds a database of the Incorporated Church Building Society's images of the plans of various churches (use the onsite search facility)

Brecknockshire Churches Survey by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust

Welsh Chapels & Churches

England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index Marriages 1754 - 1837 on Tinstaafl Transcripts  - Work in progress

The parish register entries for most of the parishes in Breconshire are available on the FindMyPast.co.uk website. Images of the original entries, as well as transcriptions, can be accessed on a pay-to-view or subscription basis, but they can also be accessed, without charge, on the computer workstations at branches of the Powys Library Service. Full details of the records available are set out on the FindMyPast website.

Detailed information on deposited Breconshire parish registers and transcripts is given on the Powys Archives website.

Breconshire Records published by Powys FHS

Map of Breconshire parishes on Powys FHS Brecknock Group website

IGI and Familysearch - the searchable Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) website IGI Batch Numbers - British Isles It is not always easy to locate your ancestors on 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

Brett Langston has provided details of the Registration Districts in Breconshire for the period 1837 to 1930.

Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained from the Superintendent Registrar at:

• The Register Office Powys County Council The Gwalia Ithon Road Llandrindod Wells LD1 6AA E-mail: registrar[at]powys.gov[dot]uk

FreeBMD is an ongoing project to make the GRO birth, marriage and death indexes available online - an essential resource for BMD records from July 1837 onwards.

findmypast.co.uk - here you'll find the complete BMD indexes of the GRO (and other genealogical material) accessible on a pay-to-view or subscription basis.

Ancestry.co.uk (the UK arm of Ancestry.com) - another way of accessing the complete BMD indexes of the GRO (and other genealogical material), accessible by payment of a subscription fee.

The Act of 1543 established the courts of Great Sessions in Wales, equivalent to the English Assizes, which continued until 1830 when they were abolished. Details about these records can be searched at Archives Network Wales.

A Vision of Britain Through Time. "This site contains information about your home area from the 2001 census -- and from every earlier British census back to 1801. It can present this information both as maps of the whole country and as graphs showing change over time in your area. It truly offers a Vision of Britain through time"

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. This is the first comprehensive national survey.

Brecknock and Abergavenny Canal on Powys Digital History Project website.

Wales Calling site - Brecon Beacons

Explore Mid Wales, an extensive Powys tourism site

Powys County Council

Trades directories held by Powys Archives

List of trades directories held by Swansea Central Library (PDF file)      Postal address: Swansea Central Library, Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3SN       Phone: 01792 636464      E-mail: libraryline[at]swansea.gov[dot]uk      Website

Directories published on CD by Archive CD Books: (now on Genfair?)

• Pigot's Directories 1822-3 of North Wales, South Wales and Monmouthshire
• Kelly's Directory of South Wales 1884, 1904, 1910, 1920
• Lloyd's almanac for Breconshire (and Wales) : land of my fathers (gwlad fy nhadau). 3. London : John Lloyd, [1907?]. 44p
• Pigot's Directory of South Wales 1835. A classified directory of Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, Merchants, Bankers, Professional Gentlemen, Manufacturers and Traders - not a listing of all residents or households.
• Pigot's Directories of North Wales, South Wales, and Monmouthshire 1822-1823
• Slater's Directory of South Wales and Monmouthshire 1850
• Slaters Directory of North and South Wales 1858-1859.
• Worrall's Directory of South Wales : comprising the counties of Glamorgan Carmarthen, Pembroke, Cardigan, Brecknock and Radnor, with Newport, Monmouthshire. Oldham : John Worrall, 1875. [18],436,174p. Includes 178 pages of advertisements and an index.

The section of The National Gazetteer (1868) relating to Brecknockshire - transcribed by Colin Hinson.

Tallis's Topographical Dictionary of England and Wales, published in 1860 in six vols, editor E. L. Blanchard. See Welsh Family History Archive for all the excellent county maps (showing the hundreds) and the alphabetical gazetteer. From the preface: "In the following pages will be found fully described the past history and present aspect of every place of any significance in England and Wales, forming a work of permanent importance to the commercial world, of ready service to the tourist of the day, and of constant interest to the general reader, who may derive from this source a large supply of entertainment, as well as of information for the amusement and instruction of a leisure hour."

Welsh Ancestor List - an all-Wales surnames list provided by John Ball on his Welsh Family History Archive website.

The new Powys FHS website offers a Strays Index and Publications List

FreeBMD website offers free access to an index to the civil registers of births marriages and death, complete for the period from 1837 to about 1915. The period from 1916 onwards is covered by Ancestry.co.uk subscription site.

Timeline of genealogically interesting dates by Gareth Hicks

The Powys Mailing List established in 1997 and hosted by RootsWeb is the most active mailing list covering the county of Breconshire.John Fuller has provided full details of the mailing lists serving this county.

Brecon Wills - VAUGHAN Wills proved in the Archdeaconry of Brecon 1575-1858 - Indexes and Abstracts on Hugh Wallis's Genealogy website.

Powys Digital History Project

Castle Wales site - the Kingdom of Powys

Peoples Collection Wales site - Houses of Breconshire

Family Search have an interactive map called "England and Wales Jurisdictions 1851" showing parish (and other) boundaries with optional background maps such as Ordnance Survey. There is also a Search facility, do read the guidance notes to get maximum benefit from this useful resource. See here for further background information to assist in the interpretation of this data

Map of Breconshire on Breconshire Local & Family History Society website

Breconshire and Radnorshire with their hundreds by Thomas Taylor, 1718 - on the People's Collection Wales  site

Map of Breconshire parishes on Powys FHS Brecknock Group website

Breconshire Old Maps

Welsh county maps on the UK Genealogy Archives site

Cambridge University Library's collection of John Speed's County Maps published circa 1610, include his detailed map of Breconshire.

An exceptionally useful set of maps showing parish boundaries, on a one inch to the mile scale, was produced in 2001 by Kain, R. J. P. and Oliver, R. R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive. See here for current availability.

Links to various UK and Ireland gazetteers

See individual parish pages for the names of places, villages, farms etc. shown on the parish maps of the CD "Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. " (Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R.)

Welsh Ancestor List on John Ball's Welsh Family History Archive website.

The Brecon & Merthyr Railway, by D. S. Barrie, Oakwood Press, 1980; ISBN 085361 087 8 (first published 1957) An index of personal names mentioned in the book is available here.

Local newspapers in Powys Archives

Victorian Professional Photographers in Wales 1850-1925 - a county based database compiled by Mari Alderman, includes sources and a bibliography.

Cronicl Powys is the Powys Family History Society journal.

Brycheiniog, the annual journal of the Brecknock Society and Museum Friends has been digitised and all volumes up to 2005 are available on the National Library of Wales website.

Powys - A Day in the Life - 1891, Breconshire County Council

Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for Powys

Workhouses: the Workhouse website describes its aim thus: 'dedicated to the workhouse - its buildings, inmates, staff and administrators, even its poets..."

Welcome to Powys: A Day in the Life - This fascinating digital history project website explores life in Powys in 1891, and compares it with the present day. All information and material for 1891 was drawn from collections throughout the counties of Breconshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire. For the contemporary part of the project, the people of Powys were asked to keep a diary of their day on 24 September 2002.

• Brecknock Society and Museum Friends. The Society has as its "aim the promotion of the study and understanding of the Archaeology, History, Geology, Natural History, the Arts and Literature of Wales, especially the historic county of Brecknock".
• Brecon Local & Family History Society (BLFHS). This exciting new society was launched at an inaugural meeting in Brecon on 1st June 2011. Its aims are "...to enhance, encourage and enable the study of local history and family history in the mid-Wales county of Breconshire". The BLFHS holds monthly meetings at Brecon Library at 2:00 pm, normally on the first Wednesday of the month. The BLFHS website is the Society's main medium for communicating with its members and with the general public. Some parts of the website are open only to members.
• Powys FHS. The Society aims to "...to encourage the study of family history and, in so doing, encourage the transcription and preservation and publication of indexes relating to the records of Powys". Since June 2012, the PFHS has a Facebook presence.