Towns in Britain.co.uk
Information/Hisory

INFORMATION RELATED TO ALL OF  GLOUCESTERSHIRE

The information on this page, and on individual Town & Parish pages is organised by the set of  subject headings which the LDS Family History Library catalogue uses for its  British Isles information. Below are the available headings for Gloucestershire; Click the "Back"  arrow on your browser's toolbar to return to this page after reading, as there  is no return link.]

 

Archives and Libraries

Briefly Archives (more  commonly known as Record Offices) are repositories  for original source material, such as Wills or Parish Registers; look for the  Local Studies Section of Libraries to consult the  Census, and printed local source material, such as Trade Directories.

  • Record Offices
  • Please see the pages for individual Towns &  Parishes, under the Archives and Libraries section for an  overview of some of their holdings, parish by parish.

     

    • The Gloucestershire Record Office (GRO)  (Clarence Row, Alvin Street, GLOUCESTER, GL1 3DW, Tel:- 01452 425295) is the  major repository for original source material of interest to family historians.
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    • The Bristol Record Office holds original  records for parishes in the south of Gloucestershire (roughly speaking, those in  the former county of Avon).

    See also the ARCHON  (Archives On-Line) Information service for locations of other Record Offices  throughout the country; or more directly, UK Archival Repositories on the  Internet, part of the www.archivesinfo.net site.

    Specific contents of both Gloucestershire Record Office and Bristol  Record Office Catalogues are searchable using the Access to Archives Database. This is a  valuable resource - whilst the original records are not available online, some  of the catalogue entries a revelation in their own right - for example there are  lists of Parish Chest papers (Settlement, Removal, &c.) available at Bristol  sufficiently informative to obviate the need to consult the original archives.  (Yummy!)

    In addition, please note:

    1. Cookies should be enabled for this site, otherwise it won't let you search!.
  • Libraries
    • The Gloucestershire  Collection housed in Gloucester  Public Library holds a wide range of material of more general interest,  including (for example) copies of The Gentleman's Magazine, the  University admissions registers for Oxford and Cambridge (Alumni  Cantabriensis and Alumni Oxoniensis), the IGI for the whole of the  UK, and all Census returns for Gloucestershire, 1841 to 1891.
    • If you wish to consult the Census at the Library, you are strongly advised to  book a microfilm reader in advance (Tel:- 01452 426979). Be sure to ask to book  the reader-printer if you wish to obtain photocopies.

       

    • Local  Studies Centres exist also in Cheltenham, Cinderford, Cirencester, Stow on  the Wold, Stroud and Tewkesbury. See Gloucestershire  Libraries A-Z for information about libraries elsewhere in the county.
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    • Information about research sources at Bristol Public  Library is accessible via the FAMILIA site, which also lists Family  History Resources in Public Libraries for the whole UK.

    See also FAMILIA's pages for Gloucester  and South  Gloucestershire.

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Bibliography

  • Ralph, Elizabeth and Hardwick, Nora M - Calendar of the Bristol  Apprentice Book 1532 - 1565. Published by Bristol Record Society,  1980. Three Volumes: Vol II, 1542-1552; Vol III, 1552-1565.
    Probably out of  print, but second hand copies can be found through online bookstores such as Ambra Books (see also  below), and John Townsend -  Antiquarian Books.
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  • Information about purchase of the Victoria County Histories is available at http://www.englandpast.net/.
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  • Various old books relating to Gloucestershire have been scanned, and are  available on Rod Neep's Archive CD  Books Project. NB: one of the CDs available is of Bigland - Historical, Monumental and Genealogical Collections Relative to the County of  Gloucester. Ralph Bigland - 1786
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  • Salter, Mike - The Old Parish Churches of the Forest of  Dean. Folly Publications.
    • ISBN 1-871731-07-0.
  • Listing of articles in Gloucestershire FHS  Journal, Nos. 32-70 (Mar 1987 - Sep 1996).
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  • The Bristol & Gloucestershire  Archaeological Society's excellent Gloucestershire Record  Series - specialist books, frequently derived from original source material  and relating to the history of Gloucestershire.
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  • Ivor Cornish, of Ambra Books,  specialises in Buying and Selling Antiquarian and Secondhand Books, relating to  Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire,  Somerset and Wiltshire. Note also his Bristol Record Society  and Bristol &  Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Transactions.
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Cemeteries

  • Index to Monumental  Inscription transcriptions for Gloucestershire, maintained by Rod Neep.
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  • Ralph Bigland visited many of Gloucestershire's graveyards in the late 18th  Century, and recorded the contents of the Memorials he found in a series of 4  volumes, available in the Gloucestershire Record Office. These volumes represent  a unique reference source, as many of the Monumental Inscriptions they record  have now disappeared, either because the gravestones have been removed, or  because their inscriptions are no longer visible.
  • As well as the originals available in the Gloucestershire Record Office,  reprints are also available, republished by the Gloucester Record Society,  details as follows:-

    Historical, Monumental and Genealogical Collections relative to the  County of Gloucester, ed. B. Frith, 1989-95, published by the  Gloucester Record Society. (Volumes 1-4 : ISBN 0 900197 28 5, 0 900197 30 7,  0 900197 34 X and 0 900197 40 4), UK.

    Volumes 1 and 2 are also available on CD from the Archive CD Books Project. As this is  just the first part of Bigland's work, check out the Place Index for  parishes covered.

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Census

  • Scanned images of original census enumerator's books for Gloucestershire  in 1861 are being reproduced on CD by the Archive CD Books Project. For more  details, samples and prices, see:
    http://www.rod-neep.co.uk/books/census/index.htm.
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  • Gloucestershire  Population Tables, 1801-1901 - census statistics on a parish-by-parish basis  taken from Volume II of the Victoria History of Gloucestershire (1907),  and provided online by Ray Wilson.
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  • Maureen Surman has transcribed the census for Boats lying at Worcester  Wharf, Birmingham, 1841-1891. Here is a list of Gloucestershire  Strays. Maureen has also included those names where place of birth is not  known or listed. For families with one member born in Gloucestershire everyone  is listed.
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  • Here are some (brief) Notes from the 1821 Census for Gloucestershire, suggesting reasons for local  population changes, transcribed by Alan Longbottom.
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  • Gordon  Beavington has transcribed an extensive range of Census records - www.mycensuses.com - 1851 CENSUS  TRANSCRIPTIONS - GLOUCS, BRISTOL, SOMERSET, WILTSHIRE. For  Gloucestershire alone, over 552,000 Records for 881 locations, more than 35  P.R.O. Census films and 30 micro fiche are transcribed. Some locations in  Northern Gloucestershire have all 5 censuses, no areas are omitted although some  locations may not have been readable.
  • The 1851 Census of BRISTOL (all Parishes and  Counties) and Bedminster, 200,000 Records, is available only on CD -  Gloucestershire censuses are available online.

    By arrangement with Gordon back in August 1998, some of the files are also  downloadable from this site. See the GENUKI  Census Index, for a list of Registration Districts available (a very small  proportion of the whole).

     

  • A separate transcription of 1851 Gloucestershire  Census has been compiled by Gloucestershire Family History Society members  and is now available for purchase on CD from the Society. This CD includes  parishes in the Diocese of Bristol (but not Bristol itself), as well as those in  the Diocese of Gloucester, and has been subjected to a rigorous series of checks  - there is a 1851  Gloucestershire Census Sample on the Society's web page, updated frequently,  to give you an idea what you will be getting.
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Church History

  • The Britannia, "America's Gateway to the British Isles" Index of Parish Churches  features about 10 Gloucestershire Churches. A nice site, providing you can  tolerate the constant invitations to take part in online gambling.
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  • John Wilkes has a series of stunning photographs of nearly 300 Gloucestershire Parish  Churches. His page of Parish Church  Locations has a useful Regional Map showing the different areas of  Gloucestershire.
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  • Several Gloucestershire churches are featured on Phil Draper's Church Architecture  Website, devoted to news and information about churches in the UK, and  worldwide, where the emphasis is on "less-well-known churches that do not appear  on the tourist trails of the world".
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Church Records

  • Gloucester Record Office provide a searchable Summary Catalogue,  containing a full catalogue of all Anglican Parish Records in their keeping, and  brief details of other collections they hold.
  • S&N  Gloucestershire Data CDs and Discs - various CDs are for sale featuring  Gloucestershire material. Of particular interest are a series of CDs of  Phillimore's Marriage volumes, of which the complete set of all 17 Volumes are  available, with a discount of 50% if ordering them all.
    Please note that a  small percentage of the marriages featured on these CDs is already available  online, transcribed independently by Stuart Flight, Glen Hicks and myself,  predating the publication of these CDs - here is a Surname Index.
  • Brenda Pickard has assembled a fine collection of parish register extracts,  genealogies, etc., taken from Gloucestershire Notes & Queries [Ed. W. P. W.  Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L. 1890-93]. These are now accessible via Stuart Flight's Home Page  along with his own research material, and transcriptions.
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  • The Society of Genealogists web site  has a list of their holdings of Parish register copies for  Gloucestershire.
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  • Ted Wildy's UK Marriage witness  index entries for Gloucestershire  [ ftp ].
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Civil Registration

Brett Langston has  provided details of Gloucestershire Registration  districts 1837-1930.

Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained from the  Superintendent Registrars at the following District Register Offices:

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Correctional Institutions

  • The Prison Service Museum near Rugby houses HM Prison Service's  historical collection of exhibits, illustrating the history of imprisonment from  medieval times to the present day. Housed in a converted stable block, the  museum contains reconstructions of Victorian prison architecture, and exhibits  include the last set of Gibbet Irons used in England. Smaller items include bone  carvings and paintings made by prisoners in their cells, and a nineteenth  century sampler embroidered by a female prisoner from her own hair
  • Admission to the museum is by appointment only, please contact:-

    The Curator,
    HM Prison Service Museum,
    Newbold  Revel,
    Rugby,
    CV23 0TH
     
    Tel: 01788 834168

    [Information compiled from "The Penal Lexicon Home Page", formerly at  www.penlex.org.uk/pages/index.html.]

     

  • Located at the north-east corner of the prison to the rear of the Central  Police Station in Longsmith Street, Gloucester Prison Museum and Shop are  open from Easter Tuesday to end of September. Monday-Saturday from 10.00 am to  4.00 pm, with limited opening at Bank Holidays.
  • "The first ever museum to be part of a fully operational and  working prison, the 'Old Gate Lodge' has been converted into a museum depicting  the history of Gloucester Castle as a prison and its progress through to modern  day operation."

    There is a small shop operated by the museum staff selling souvenirs produced  specifically for Gloucester Prison Museum.

    The Governor,
    HM Prison and Remand Centre,
    Barrack  Square,
    Gloucester,
    GL1 2JN
     
    Tel: 01452 529551 Fax: 01452 310302

    [Information compiled from "The Penal Lexicon Home Page", formerly at  www.penlex.org.uk/pages/index.html.]

     

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Description and Travel

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Directories

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Emigration and Immigration

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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

  • An account of Gloucestershire,  from A Topographical Dictionary of England, Samuel Lewis, 1831, provided  by Alan Stanier.
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Genealogy

  • The Gloucestershire  Look-Up Exchange, hosted by Isabel Easter - a list of volunteers who hold  reference material relating to Gloucestershire and who are willing to undertake  small searches.
  • Nigel Batty-Smith's site of United  Kingdom Genealogy has a section devoted to Gloucestershire,  which includes the Heralds' Visitation of Gloucestershire, 1623, published by  The Harleian Society, 1885, available for viewing online (follow the link to Books).
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  • Graham Thomas is assembling a South Cotswolds Genealogical  Master Index to include material and links for selected parishes in the  South Cotswold area.
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  • Allan Taylor is assembling a collection of Researchers' and Local History  pages for selected parishes in the north of the county via his Genealogy of the Cotswolds  and Surrounds pages.
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  • The Gloucestershire  Surname-Interests list, complete with location index, is hosted by David  Steel.
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  • Several Mailing Lists  may be of interest to those researching in Gloucestershire:
    • GLOUCESTER - a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical or  historical interest in the county of Gloucestershire, England.
    • WESSEX-PLUS - a mailing list for anyone who has an interest in  genealogy or general and local history related to and incorporating the counties  of Berkshire, Bristol, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Isle of Wight, Hampshire,  Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire.
    • BRISTOL_and_SOMERSET - a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical  or historical interest in the city of Bristol and/or the County of Somerset.
    • ENG-GLO-HAWKESBURY - a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical  interest in the parish of Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire, including general  historical issues relating to Hawkesbury.
    • ENG-GLO-TORMARTON - a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical  interest in the Village of Tormarton, Gloucestershire.
    • ENG-GLOS-FOREST-DEAN - a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical  interest in the Forest of Dean which is a large selection of towns and villages  in the county of Gloucester.

    Subscription details for the above lists have been provided by John Fuller,  as part of a much larger collection of "Genealogy Resources on the  Internet" - pages maintained jointly by John, with Chris Gaunt.

     

  • The Gloucestershire GenWeb pages,  parts of the England GenWeb  Project. These are in turn part of the British Isles GenWeb Project, and  overall part of the World GenWeb  hierarchy.
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  • Information on the location of Quaker  Records in Gloucestershire provided by the Quaker FHS.
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Historical Geography

  • English Heritage  Viewfinder - site with historic photographs, searchable by county. Has some  unusual ones of the Industrial Age which won't be found amongst the more usual  postcard collections!.
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  • The Francis Frith Collection - a  collection of over 700,000 photographs of the UK, Europe and the Middle East  taken by the Victorian photographer Francis Frith.
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  • River Severn Tales - an  account of life on the River Severn, featuring a History page, which  lists notable dates in the history of the River, illustrating how the Severn's  presence has shaped events in the county. Almost all of the parishes bordering  on the Severn are mentioned.
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History

  • Chris Phillips has compiled an index to place names mentioned in the titles  of topographical articles in the published volumes of the Victoria County  History. The index is available his Medieval English Genealogy web  site, in the Victoria  County History: Gloucestershire section.
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  • 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.
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  • Local History  Groups and Societies in Gloucestershire - lists information for several  towns and villages in the county which have Local History Societies.
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  • The Domesday Book site - "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.  Major ones were Deerhurst, Dymock, Stow on the Wold and Tetbury, with Chepstow  (now Wales).
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Land and Property

  • The Harvard Law School Library's Catalogue of Medieval and Early Modern  Deeds contains detailed summaries of some Deeds relating to Gloucestershire, but  unfortunately, these have been taken offline.
  • However, short summaries (not the original detailed summaries) of the deeds  are available via the Harvard University Library Catalogue. http://hollisweb.harvard.edu/

    IMPORTANT: Please read the following notes before selecting this link. Better  still, open a new browser window for the above URL, keeping this window open so  you can follow these instructions as you go:

     

    • The web interface is quite difficult to use. Read the instructions.
    • Select HU - "Union Catalog of the Harvard Libraries"
    • On the Search Screen, cut and past this text
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      FIND KSH GLOUCESTERSHIRE DEEDS

      into the Command: box, then press Submit.

    • Use Display Long.

    [KSH defines the kind of search and equates to "Keyword subject heading"]

    This should return fourteen entries.

     

  • Robin Alston has created The Country  House Database, a very useful reference source, "listing country houses in  the British Isles from the late medieval period to ca. 1850, together with an  index to all the families so far traced as having occupied them." Includes a  section on Gloucestershire.
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Law and Legislation

  • Names from Criminal Registers (PRO Class HO 27) 1805-1816 are available for  purchase on floppy disk or microfiche through Family History Indexes (the link to the Criminal Registers is part  way down the page).
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Maps

  • The London Ancestor site has  maps from the 1885 Boundary Commissioners report for all parts of the British  Isles, including Gloucestershire.  Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode. 1885.
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  • Map of Gloucestershire,  1805 produced by E.W. Brayley, and provided by Nicholas Adams.
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  • Aerial photographs of a good proportion of the UK are available at Getmapping.com. You can enter almost any  postcode in the UK to see it from the air. If you find something you like, then  it is possible to order a personalised copy, with a dedication.
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  • The Old Maps web site has a  wonderful series of 1:10,560 scale historical maps for the whole of the UK  available online. The Gloucestershire ones are dated circa 1887.
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  • The Genmaps  site contains a fine collection of Old Maps of the British Isles for  Genealogists and Historians. In particular, see Old  Maps of Gloucestershire.
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  • The above Genmaps Links pages lists Great Britain -  Medieval Maps, which in turn has a link to an intriguing Ecclesiastical  Map of the British Isles in the Middle Ages, which shows the principal  Monasteries, demonstrating some of the earliest centres of habitation and  influence.
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  • Detailed Maps of the area you may be interested in Gloucestershire are  viewable at the UK Street Map Page.  The site provides a most useful service, with superb address searching and  street map facilities for anywhere in mainland Great Britain.
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  • Similar facilities are also available via Multimedia Mapping - the two sites have  slightly different search parameters, so if you don't have sufficient  information to find the place you want on one, then try the other!.
  • Multimedia Mapping also has a search interface for Aerial Photographs  provided by Getmapping.com.

     

  • Malcolm Farmer has provided an excellent Map of  Gloucestershire, dated 1880 with a similar interactive search capability.
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Medical Records

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Military History

  • The Age of Nelson - a website  providing general information about the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars  1793-1815, and specifically searchable databases of those present at Trafalgar  (and more) and of all Commissioned Naval Officers 1787-1822.
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  • The Glorious Glosters,  history of the Gloucestershire Regiments from 1694. Has copious lists of  Casualties of notable campaigns - Crimean War, Indian Mutiny, Korea, et al.
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  • Names from Musters of the Gloucestershire (North & South) Militia  1781-82 are available for purchase on floppy disk or microfiche through Family History Indexes (the link to Militia Musters is part way  down the page).
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  • An index to the Evesham Journal and  Four Shires Advertiser Roll of Service, 1914-1915, compiled by Malcolm  Farmer, mentions a number of men from parishes now, or formerly in north-east  Gloucestershire .
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  • Terry Williams has transcribed lists of names from the book:-
    The history  of the  Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry 1898-1922
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  • Information about The Gloucestershire  Regiment is available on Liz Jack's Hidden Heritage website.
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  • Men & Armour for Gloucestershire in 1608 /  [compiled by] John Smith; a Muster Roll of fit and able bodied men.
  • "The names and Surnames of all the able and sufficient men in body fitt  for his Ma'ties service in the warrs within the City of Gloucester and the  Inshire of the same, wherein are contayned the City of Glouc' and the Hundreds  of Dudstone and Barton Regis, with their ages, personable Statures and Armours  viewed by the Right honorable Henry Lord Berkley Lord Lieutenant of the said  City and the County thereof by direction from his Ma'tie in the month of  September, 1608."

    The list provides occupations, and a measure of age, and physique of the  parties concerned by means of a key, for example:- John Bendall Brodeweaver - 1m. being decipherable using the following table:-

     

    The figure (1) sheweth the age of that man to bee about  Twenty.
    The figure (2) sheweth the age of that man to bee about Forty.
    The  figure (3) sheweth the age of that man to bee betwene Fyfty and  threescore.
    The L're (p.) sheweth the man to bee of of the tallest stature  fitt to make a pykeman.
    The L're (m.) sheweth the man to bee of a middle  stature fitt to make a musketyer.
    The L'res (ca.) sheweth the man to bee of a  lower stature fitt to serve with a Calyver.
    The L'res (py.) sheweth the man  to bee of the meanest stature either fit for a pyoner, or of little other  use.
    The L'res (tr.) sheweth that at the takinge of this viewe, hee was then  a trayned soldyer.
    The L'res (sub.) sheweth that the said man was then a  subsidy man.
    ;
     

    This is just to whet your appetite to give you a flavour of the kind of  detail which is available.

    The original manuscript of Men and Armour is now on deposit at  Gloucestershire Record Office. The printed version - Reference: Author(s):  Smith, John, b.1567 [compiled by] John Smith - was republished in 1980 by  Alan Sutton: ISBN/ISSN: 0904387496 as a limited edition of 400 numbered  copies

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Names, Geographical

  • Smith, A. H. (Albert Hugh; 1903-1967), The place-names of  Gloucestershire. One of the English Place-Name Society Series;  v.38-41. Cambridge: University Press (1964-1965). In 4 Volumes:
    1. The river- and road-names. The east Cotswolds;
       
    2. The north and west Cotswolds;
       
    3. The lower Severn Valley. The Forest of Dean;
       
    4. Introduction, bibliography, analyses, index, maps.
       


     

  • St. Clair Baddeley, Welbore (1856-1945), Place-names of  Gloucestershire : a handbook. Gloucestershire : J. Bellows, 1913.
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Names, Personal

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Newspapers

  • You can search online at The Newspaper  Library at Colindale to find details of the newspapers which have been  published and which are held at by the Newspaper Library. Search results give  the catalogue reference numbers and dates held at Colindale for the title  concerned. A note section tells you, for example, if it is held on microfilm  only. If the publication continued under another title, it tells you and gives  similar details for that title as well.
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  • The Gloucestershire Echo  & Gloucester Citizen.
  • The Bristol Evening  Post
    Has a News Search Archive, although one rather imagines their idea  of an archive is last week!
  • Links to Newspapers' sites are provided not only for the Newspaper content,  but also because they may contain links to other items or sites of local  interest.

     

  • For other English Newspapers see OnlineNewspapers.com -  England.
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Nobility

  • The Heralds' Visitation of Gloucestershire, 1623, published by The Harleian  Society, 1885, is available for viewing online in the Gloucestershire  section of Nigel Batty-Smith's site of United Kingdom Genealogy (follow the  link to Books).
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Occupations

  • Apprentices from the County of Gloucester  bound at Carpenters' Hall, London 1654-1694, a list published originally in Gloucestershire Notes & Queries (N&Q, vol X, No. 91, 1914),  transcribed by Rosemary Lockie.
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  • The Hereford & Gloucester Canal  Trust describes the beginnings, history and the restorating of this  little-known Canal - "Building began at Over in 1793 at the height of 'canal  mania'. The priority was to reach Ledbury so that revenue could be earned but  the greatest obstacle was the 1¼ mile Oxenhall Tunnel." Features some  stunning photographs.
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  • A List of Coal  Mines in Gloucestershire, 1880 - Mines in The Forest of Dean, giving the  name of the Colliery, where situated and who owned it; list are provided by  Kevin Davis as part of his Family History Archive.
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  • For further information about Coal Mining generally visit the Coal Mining History Rescource  Centre.
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  • The Society of  Brushmakers' Descendants assists those with Brushmaking Ancestors, or with  an interest in discovering more about the brushmaker's trade.
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  • Some notes on Stroudwater Canal are available on Stuart  Flight's Stroud  Area page.
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  • The National Waterways Museum at Gloucester, sited in  Llanthony Warehouse on Gloucester Docks. Relates the story of 200 years of  Britain's Canals. Nice animated .gif features a Canal Boat in front of the  Museum.
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  • Geoff Sandle's Gloucestershire Pubs site.  Geoff is attempting to locate all old pubs and breweries in Gloucestershire from  1850. Archive material includes petty sessional divisional records dating from  1891 and 1903 and old county directories. (Kelly's etc.)
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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

  • The Workhouse a site "dedicated  to the workhouse - its buildings, its inmates, its staff and administrators, and  even its poets..." created by Peter Higginbotham - promises to be a rich source  of reference.
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  • The Rossbret Web site provides  extensive information about Workhouses and Poor Law Institutions, but also  includes Asylums, Almshouses, Gaols (Prisons), Dispensaries, Hospitals  (Infirmaries), Reformatories (Industrial Schools), and Orphanages, in many cases  listing individual premises.
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Probate Records

  • Rosemary Lockie has begun a collection of pages listing abstracts of Central and South Gloucestershire Probate  Records At present this collection includes abstracts from Rosemary's  research only, but you are invited to submit similar information from your own  Wills collection, whilst at the same time, of course to use whatever information  is there already for assistance in locating your own forebears. Many thanks in  advance to all the kind people who are going to donate their ancestors' Wills to  this project!
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  • Leslie Mahler is the one responsible for setting this particular ball  rolling. He began work in 1998, transcribing indexes to, and abstracts from  early Gloucestershire Wills in an effort to trace his own Gloucestershire  ancestors prior to the earliest parish registers. The periods he's covered so  far are 1541-1545, and ALL  Gloucestershire Wills dated 1619.  Abstracts from specific locations are also available - check out his Early Gloucestershire Probate Records for  further details.
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  • Another researcher, Allan Taylor is collecting details of Wills for  parishes featured on his Genealogy of the Cotswolds  and Surrounds site. If you have ANY Wills for this area, he would be  delighted to include them on his web site also.
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  • Confused as to which of the above collections to go for? Me too! See Gloucestershire Probate Records Online for  an overview, and links to collections elsewhere.
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  • In May 1999, a Genealogical Database became available in the Searchroom of  the Gloucester Record Office containing details  of all Wills proved in Gloucester between 1541 and 1858. This database is  now available online - further details are available on the Gloucester Record Office official web  page. NB: variant spellings in surname are grouped together in any search  results, making this a very powerful research tool.
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Religion and Religious Life

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Schools

  • The UK Schools  Interests site includes a School Photographs Collection, and a UK  Schools History Group (includes Brief History of Education through the Ages)  which may be of interest to genealogists.
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  • If you are interested in finding out whether your dearest school friends are  also researching their family trees, check out Friends United, a site devoted to  reuniting old school and college friends.
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Social Life and Customs

  • Victorian  Social History: An Overview - Public Health, Education, Conditions of Life  and Labour.
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  • Costume History -  from Ancient Babylon through to 1990s - a very comprehensive site on Fashion and  Dress through the ages. Has images to illustrate what my great*6 aunt Mary  OUTRAM might have been wearing on top of her "second best stays", one of the  items she left in her will of 1769 to a young female relative!
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  • About the Cotswolds  Olympics - some information on the Cotswold games, which were instituted in  1610 at Dover's Hill, a place between Chipping Campden and Weston Subedge, and  so-named in honour of the founder of the games. Transcribed by Allan Taylor from  the book "The History and Antiquities of Chipping Campden" by Percy  C Rushen (1911).
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Societies

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