The Gazateer of The British Isles 1887 describes Warwickshire as: “…a pleasant undulating surface of hill and dale, watered by the Avon, Leam, and Tame” – and of its industry:  “The manufactures are carried on chiefly at Birmingham (hardware and silk goods) and Coventry (watches and ribbons). There are mineral springs at Leamington, Stratford on Avon, Ilmington, Southam, Willoughby, King’s Newnham, &c.; The county is traversed in all directions by canals and railways.”  Hence, if you have Warwickshire genealogy you should keep a look out for silk & ribbon weavers, watchmakers, iron workers, canal & railway workers.

Main Archives in Warwickshire

The main depository for parish records and other historical and family history records is Warwickshire Record Office at Warwick.  If you plan to visit, they are closed in the first FULL week of the month and on all Mondays, but it’s best to check their opening times in any case.

Birmingham, although previously park of Warwickshire, is now part of the County of West Midlands, which came into existence in 1974.  If you have ancestors in Birmingham, then you will need to visit The Birmingham City Archives, which is on the top floor of Birmingham Central Library.  They have different opening hours for the family history and main records sections, so check the website for details.

If you have families that were based in or around Stratford it may be worth checking the collection at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Library & Archives.  This does not just hold documents to do with Shakespeare and Stratford – it has a huge collection of documents relating to families of the surrounding area. They are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

If you are searching for in-depth information on Warwickshire trades and occupations, then you might try Warwick University’s Modern Records Centre, which holds a collection relating to the local history of trade unions and assocations, and political and pressure groups, back to around the mid-19th century.

The Warwickshire Library Local Studies Department holds newspaper and map collections.

Diocesan Record Offices

If you are searching for wills, marriage licence records or other records that were administered by the diocesant court, you will need to search in the appropriate diocesan record office.  The county is mainly split in two, the north eastern part being mainly part of the diocese of Lichfield, and the south western part being main part of the diocese of Worcestershire.  However, a few parishes in the south west, which were once part of Gloucestershire, are part of the diocese of Gloucestershire.    Here you can see a parish map which shows the boundaries of the dioceses.

Warwickshire Record Office holds indexes of wills held by Lichfield and Worcestershire, and then for other records and to order wills you can visit:

Lichfield Record Office

Worcestershire Record Office

Gloucestershire Record Office

These are the main facts you need to know about searching for genealogy in Warwickshire.  For other historical sources for Warwickshire, visit GENUKI for lots more links and information.

If you are unable to get to any of the archives mentioned, please contact me at info@tracingancestors-uk.com.  I have ready access to the Warwickshire Record Office and the Shakespeare Birthplace Centre.  I can also visit the Birmingham Archives, and the Worcestershire and Gloucestershire archives – though I need to have at least 3 hours of work to make the travel to these worth while, and I do charge some travelling fees for these centres.  I also have a list of genealogists who can visit those archives that are out of my area.

Apart from visiting archives, my service also includes visiting local parishes and taking photographs of churches, graves, houses or any other place or building relating to your family history.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions about Warwickshire genealogy.

What are the parish registers?

In 1538, Thomas Cromwell ordered that every baptism, marriage and burial should be recorded by the incumbent of each parish. This was not always carried out in the early years, and many of these earlier registers have been lost or destroyed.

Image of a parish register from www.rotherham.gov.uk

The third problem with early (and sometimes later) parish registers is that the handwriting can be difficult to decipher, or the writing has faded or the script is so badly organised on the page that it is almost impossible to sort it out.

Before 1598, the registers were recorded on paper and therefore of poor quality. After 1598, it was required for them to be recorded on parchment. The order stated that earlier records should be copied onto parchment (though some of these were only copied from 1558, Queen Elizabeth’s accession). Thus, many registers seem to begin in 1558.

Many early registers are written in Latin, but this should not be a problem for the family historian. You only need to learn a few words to be able to understand each entry.

After 1812 the parish registers were written on specially formatted pages, so they are much easier to read.

The parish registers are one of the main sources of family history and can often help you to confirm and back up information that you find in civil registration and census records, as well as continue your searches well into the 18th, 17th and, if you are lucky, the 16th centuries.
How To Search the Registers

The county record offices have produced the vast majority of parish registers onto microfiche or microfilm in order to conserve the original registers.

In most archives, there is an open access system, where you can look up the parish register you need in an index, note the reference number and then take the relevant film or fiche from a drawer or cabinet. In some record offices you may need to fill in a withdrawal request slip.

You will find that at different periods the records look very different. By the late 19th century the baptism, marriage and burial registers were kept in separate books, making it easier for the researcher to find the right entry.

In earlier registers often the baptisms, marriages and burials were written up in the same books, usually on separate pages, but quite often all jumbled up together, and occasionally not even in chronological order, so you will need a lot of patience and a good set of eyes at times!

Because of these different ways of keeping the records, you may find that you have to change your researching tactics from time to time.

For example, it is much easier to search for specific ancestors in the later registers where the information is laid out neatly in separate books, but once the records get to a more disorganised stage, I find it best to note down every instance of your family surname that you can find and then go over your notes later to try and make sense of them.

This can save a lot of time because you do not want to have to go back over the same registers again just to look for a separate marriage or burial, parents or siblings.

If you have a lot of ancestors in the parish, it can be quite enjoyable to do this, putting together all the information you have noted like a jigsaw later.

Tracing ancestors in the UK parish registers can be a fascinating activity, though at times frustrating. Sometimes you will find extra information that the incumbent decided was important, such as whether a child was illegitimate (e.g. “base born” or “bastard”) or if the parents or a couple getting married had come from another parish. This kind of information is priceless for the family historian and can help you to establish further lines of research.

Need someone to search the registers for you?  See my research services HERE.

After you have tracked your ancestors back to the 1841 census, and have ordered all the certificates you need back to 1837, the next main documents for finding older ancestors are the parish registers.  These are mostly now held at the local county record office for that parish.

Preparing to use the archives

Before visiting the county record office, make sure you have recorded all the information you have so far and you have made a clear list of all the information you need.

The next thing you need to do is to ring the appropriate record office or centre and find out their opening hours, and to ask whether you need to book a fiche/film-reader. Each record office has its own way of working so do not assume that because one CRO works one way then the rest will follow. Some record offices require you to book a space, and with others you can just turn up. You will also need to ask whether you need to bring some form of identification. Most CROs now issue a record office identity card which can be used to gain entry to many record offices across the country. All you need is a driving licence, passport or other official form of identification.

Before setting off, you will need to make sure you have the following:

Pencils. In all archives, pens are banned – for obvious reasons – and all your notes must be made by pencil. I recommend you supply yourself with a set of cheap propelling pencils with an eraser on the end. Normal pencils become blunt very quickly and you will get fed up with having to sharpen every half hour!

A Pad of A4 paper. I prefer A4 lined paper because you have more space to make notes and set out lists. Some people prefer the smaller A5 pads – but this means that you have to constantly flick backwards and forwards to refer to previous notes, and, personally, I would find the restricted space frustrating. But – use whatever works for you!

Small Change. Most record offices have printers and photocopiers for printing from microfiche or film, or for photocopying documents (if approved by the archivist). Print-outs and photocopies usually cost around 30p. You will probably also need some coins to feed the coffee machines, lockers and, in some cases, parking meters.

Your notes. A large folder or bag will NOT be welcome (and you will have to put any bags in a locker anyway) – so just take with you the pages from your notes that you need.

Identification. If it’s your first visit you will probably need to register for a ticket and will be asked for identification.

Magnifying Glass. This may not be absolutely necessary at first as you will most likely start with microfiche and film, but when you get to look at wills and other paper documents it can be very useful when deciphering handwriting. However, I have on occasion used my magnifying glass to help to enlarge a word on a microfiche or film reader – the readers do not always enlarge enough, especially where the handwriting is very small in the first place.

Packed Lunch. It’s up to you, of course, but some record offices do not have café facilities, and unless the archives are in the centre of a town, you may find there are very limited refreshment opportunities. The Northamptonshire Record Office, for example, is off the A45 ring road and the nearest café is a 10 minute car drive to the nearest Supermarket.

What to expect when you arrive

Most record offices have some sort of signing in system before you will be allowed into the reading rooms. Also, you will need to leave your coats and any bags in lockers.

Once you have signed in and/or registered for your ticket, you will be allowed into the reading room or index room. If it’s your first visit you will usually find that the record office staff are very helpful and will direct you to the readers and show you how to use the indexes and the readers.

As I’ve said before, each record office has its own way of working, and this is also the same for their indexing systems. I think most record offices these days use a self-serve system for taking out microfiches or microfilms containing census and parish register records – but it is best that you find out how to use this when you get there. If I describe the system used at my local record office, it would be a waste of time if the one you are using uses a completely different system.

Microfiches and Microfilms

When searching census records and parish registers, it is very unlikely that you will get to see the actual documents – unless a parish register microfiche is damaged or lost. The popularity of family history has made it necessary to protect these documents from overuse and all of these documents have now been filmed for general use.

Most of the census records are recorded on microfilm, and you will first need to refer to an index for the particular parish you are looking for, note the reference number for the microfilm and then take (or order) that microfilm. The films themselves are on reels and stored in small boxes in filing cabinets.

The first time you use a microfilm reader you will probably need some help from the staff to load the film. Again, I have found that readers vary in style from place to place, so if you’ve used one in one centre, don’t be surprised if you find you have difficulty loading a film in another! As most films carry several parishes, you will need to wind the film through to the appropriate place – this can take some time. Some readers have an old-fashioned manual winding system, but if you are lucky you might find one with an electronic winder which makes the task much quicker.

Microfiche are mostly used for parish registers and are very easy to use. Each fiche (or set of fiches) is kept in small envelopes in filing cabinets. The indexes for the parish registers are usually kept in bound books or ring-bind folders and are sorted parish by parish, dates and (where separate) baptisms, marriages and burials.

IMPORTANT NOTE

When you start researching your family history, it is very easy to go from document to document and forget to make a record of the document or index you have searched. Once you have been doing this for some time, you will forget what you have looked at, and will find yourself spending valuable time looking at something that you have already searched to no avail. Believe me, I still manage to do this myself!

So, one major rule for your searches is:

MAKE A NOTE OF EVERY SOURCE YOU LOOK AT

This applies whether you find anything within that source or not.

Well, that’s my rough guide to using county records offices.  However, don’t worry too much – you will find the staff are always very helpful, so as long as you are prepared and have booked your space, you should find your visit an enjoyable one!