Knowing where the archives for these counties were found can
be really useful as when researching family history we sometimes need to visit
an archive to find out some information that cannot be found online. So I
thought I’d put together a list of the counties of the UK with the location of
their main archives for the county. So I’ve looked at the counties of Wales and
I’ve done parts 1 and 2 of England so on to more of England.
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| Counties of England |
1. Oxfordshire
In the south of England Oxfordshire has a population of
around 700,000 and the county town is Oxford. This is also where the county
archive can be found. The website for the archive is: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/leisure-and-culture/history/oxfordshire-history-centre?utm_term=nil&utm_content=
2. Berkshire
Also in the south of the country Berkshire (pronounced
Barkshire) has a population of around 900,000. The county town is Reading
(pronounced Reding) and the archive is in the town. The web address for the
archive is: https://www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk/
3. Hampshire
On the south coast of England the county town of Hampshire
is Winchester (the old capital of England) and the county has a population of
around 1.9 million. The archives for the county are housed in Winchester and
can be found at: https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/archives
4. Gloucestershire
Located of the border with Wales Gloucestershire has a
population of approximately 900,000. The county town is Gloucester and the
archives are located in the city. The web address for the archives is: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/
5. Wiltshire
A land locked county, Wiltshire has a population of around
700,000. The county town is Trowbridge and the archives are held in the town of
Chippenham and can be found at: http://www.wshc.eu/our-services/archives.html
6. Dorset
Situated on the south coast Dorset’s county town is
Dorchester and the county has an approximate population of 770,000. If you want
to visit the archives they are located in Dorchester and the website is: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/libraries-history-culture/dorset-history-centre/dorset-history-centre.aspx
7. Somerset
On the west coast of England the county of Somerset
incorporates the defunct county of Avon. The county town is Taunton and the
population of the county is around 950,000. If you want to go to the archive
then you need to go to Taunton and the address for the archives is: http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/
You may also need the archives in Bristol which can be found at: http://archives.bristol.gov.uk/
8. Devon
Down in the south west the coastal county of Devon has a
population of around 1.2 million. The county town is Exeter and this is where
the archives are found. To visit the archive website go to: https://swheritage.org.uk/devon-archives/
9. Cornwall
The most southerly and westerly of the English counties
Cornwall has a population of approximately 560,000 and the county town is
Truro. The archives live in Redruth and their address is: https://kresenkernow.org/
In all of these counties don’t forget the local family
history societies as well as the local libraries. These are also excellent
sources of information. Also within the counties each town or city may have
their own archive or records office. So make sure you do your complete research
into where you may find relevant documents for your genealogy. These places are
vast repositories for so many different documents or collections. There more
than just baptism, marriage and burial records. There are other parish records,
town and village information and so much more. The websites will tell you what
repositories each archive holds.
So hopefully this will help you in locating where the information
you need may reside.
Part 1 can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-england-part-1
Part 2 can be found at:
Wales can be found at: http://www.familyhistoryresearchengland.co.uk/blog/counties-of-wales
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