Gloucestershire Archives and Libraries

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England

Gloucestershire

Archives and Libraries

Boundary Changes Affecting Record Storage

This article provides information covering areas once in the historic county of Gloucester. The current Gloucestershire County Council area does not have the same geographical boundaries as the historic county. Some northern parts of the county, including Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon, were transferred to Warwickshire in 1931. Following the Local Government Act 1972, some southern parts of the county were transferred for administrative purposes to the new county of Avon, which ceased to exist on 1 April 1996. Parts of Gloucestershire were then returned. After 1996, the city of Bristol and South Gloucestershire became separate unitary authorities. Gloucestershire Archives is a Gloucestershire County Council service. It also provides archives services for South Gloucestershire County Council. The geographic are that these two councils cover used to be a single county. Today we call it the historic county of Gloucestershire. Long Marston records are held in the Gloucestershire Record Office. Welford-on-Avon records are held in the Warwickshire Record Office.

Current Districts

Archives

Gloucestershire Archives
Clarence Row
Alvin Street
Gloucester, Gloucestershire GL1 3DW UK
Telephone: 01452 425 295
Email: archives@gloucestershire.gov.uk

• Website
• Online Catalogue
• Research Guides
• Parish Registers Research Guide
• Non-conformist Records Research Guide
• Bishop's Transcripts Research Guide

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Bristol Archives
'B' Bond Warehouse (via Create Centre)
Smeaton Road
Bristol, Gloucestershire BS1 6XN UK

Telephone: 0117 922 4224
Email: bro@bristol.gov.uk

• Website
• Online catalogue

Bristol Record Office was established in 1924. It looks after the official archives of the City of Bristol, besides collecting and preserving many other records relating to the city and surrounding area. The office acts as a Diocesan Record Office for Bristol diocese.

Church Records include:

• Records of the Diocese of Bristol: including wills, Bishop’s transcripts, faculty papers, records of ordination, estate records and tithe maps.
• Parish registers and records: these include registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for the Archdeaconry of Bristol, records of the Overseers of the Poor and churchwarden’s accounts.

Libraries

• Gloucestershire County Libraries: Website
• South Gloucestershire County Libraries: Website

Museums

For a long list of Gloucestershire museums, go to List of museums in Gloucestershire' in Wikipedia.

Civil Registration Offices

The General Register Office holds a central copy of all birth, marriage, and death registrations in England. These certificates can be ordered from their website (a login is required but it is free to register and search). However, in some cases research can be more efficient working with the smaller, more specific records collections of county/district registry offices.

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Sometimes research might be required to determine where a town or parish was in a former registration district, or even its current district. For a list of the historic and current registration districts and their parishes, see UKBMD: Registration Districts in Gloucestershire.

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• Order certificates Gloucester County
• Gloucestershire Birth, Marriage, Death Indexes
• Gloucestershire Registration Offices Location and Contact Information

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• South Gloucestershire Births, deaths, marriages and ceremonies

• Order a birth certificate
• Order a marriage certificate
• Order a death certificate