Research Guides

These days, the advent of the Internet and digital resources has enabled family historians to carry out much of their initial research online.

This guide aims to give an outline of the main resources available and "Hints and Tips" based on how some of the members have carried out their own research online.
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Alongside the personal details of your families, one of the most useful sets of documents for you will be the Census Returns.

The census is one of the most useful sets of records available. Placing an ancestor with their parents and siblings when they are young, or finding them in later life with a spouse and children are just a few of the things that can be discovered.

This guide will give you more information on using these valuable sources of evidence for your research.
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Wills may mention dead ancestors, pregnant wives, married daughters, grandchildren .... you have a snapshot of circumstances when the will was made, not when the testator died.

You cannot tell how much detail a will may contain until you’ve read it. A will may be the only document to link branches of the family living in different counties, particularly after 1901. What a will does not tell you is someone’s full fortune. Land is generally not mentioned in wills. Conversely, some people's wills totalled more than their assets!
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County, Regional, Town, City or Trade Directories provide us with valuable detail for 19th and 20th Century research.

Directories list people/occupations and addresses. They can be searched usually by location, decade and/or key word. Not all directories are searchable by all methods. In earlier directories, only notable members of the community may be listed.
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Maps enable you to place your ancestors in context geographically, from the early tithe maps to the advent of the Ordnance Survey maps.

N.B. This page only contains links to sites with historical maps. Maps from the present day or for specific localities will be found on the appropriate page of the UK County Index .
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