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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: chopendoz on Wednesday 16 July 14 13:58 BST (UK)

Title: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: chopendoz on Wednesday 16 July 14 13:58 BST (UK)
I have reached an impasse with my research. I am heavily invested in Wills and Parish Records
for the period prior to 1600 (in Oxfordshire) but am at a loss when it comes to other sources of
material for the period. Consequently, I am interested in land/property records, Lay Subsidy
Rolls, Deeds, Manor Rolls, etc. but have no idea how to access such information.
Can anyone help?
Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: ThrelfallYorky on Wednesday 16 July 14 16:11 BST (UK)
suspect it'll be a case of Records office locally or county to the area you are interested in, and a long slow slog in person. Good luck. Perhaps via the Oxfordshire  section on here someone local to that area may be able to help?
Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: chopendoz on Wednesday 16 July 14 20:13 BST (UK)
Sadly, I am on the other side of the world - in Tasmania.
A trip to a local county office would be ... inconvenient.
Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: Rena on Wednesday 16 July 14 20:39 BST (UK)
Not everything that is held in the many archives around the UK are listed on line.  However, there are quite a few manorial records listed in the a2a catalogue site.  The listings include wills, land rentals, manorial rolls, etc., etc.

http://apps.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/
Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: Pennie on Wednesday 16 July 14 22:16 BST (UK)
If you're lucky enough to find any documents of interest on The National Archives website, then they can normally be obtained electronically upon payment.  Anything already classified as an "online" record can be paid for (at a standard price) and downloaded virtually instantaneously.  Other documents will require a costing, this will then be advised to you and you can order (all electronically).  This system can take a couple of weeks.

Pennie
Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: Rena on Thursday 17 July 14 13:51 BST (UK)
If you've already visited the a2a site and done a search you will already know that when you click on a result and drill down to the pertinent page, the contact details of the actual archive are always given.

I see from the "genuki" webpage for Oxfordshire that part of it is now in Berkshire.

 http://oxf.genuki.weald.org.uk/
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~malcolm/genuki/big/eng/OXF/oxfpar.htm

 This means that most  probably Berkshire county has some pertinent records for the places which were once in Oxfordshire.  Therefore, you should not confine your a2a search to just the one county of Oxfordshire.

I would also point out that quite often landed yeomen/freemen had family ties/estates in other counties and that's another reason for not confining searches.

Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: JohninSussex on Thursday 17 July 14 20:45 BST (UK)

I see from the "genuki" webpage for Oxfordshire that part of it is now in Berkshire.
This means that most  probably Berkshire county has some pertinent records for the places which were once in Oxfordshire.  Therefore, you should not confine your a2a search to just the one county of Oxfordshire.
No, actually it says the opposite, many parts originally in Berkshire became part of Oxfordshire.  The only place to have moved the other way was Caversham when it became part of Reading. Otherwise all Oxfordshire records should be in that county today.
Title: Re: Sources of information prior to 1600
Post by: Rena on Thursday 17 July 14 20:58 BST (UK)

I see from the "genuki" webpage for Oxfordshire that part of it is now in Berkshire.
This means that most  probably Berkshire county has some pertinent records for the places which were once in Oxfordshire.  Therefore, you should not confine your a2a search to just the one county of Oxfordshire.
No, actually it says the opposite, many parts originally in Berkshire became part of Oxfordshire.  The only place to have moved the other way was Caversham when it became part of Reading. Otherwise all Oxfordshire records should be in that county today.

Thanks for pointing out my error - I did read the item correctly but made an absolute mess of writing, deleting and rewording my comments.    The message is the same - = don't just confine a search to one archive.