Herefordshire Probate Records

England > Herefordshire

For an explanation of probate records in England, click here.

Court Jurisdictions

Before 1858, every town and parish in Herefordshire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary ecclesiastical court and one or more secondary ecclesiastical courts.

Here is a list of Herefordshire places beginning with the letter A and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them.  Search the courts in the order given.  Search indexes first.  For indexes, click on a court name or see the indexes listed below.  

For other places, click on a letter link:  B, C-E, F-I, K-L, M-P, R-T, U-Z.

PARISH	PRIMARY COURT	SECONDARY COURTS - IN SEARCH ORDER
Abbey Dore	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Aconbury	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Allensmore	Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Dean of Hereford	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Almeley	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Amberley	Court of the Bishop (Consistory) of the Dean of Hereford	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Ashperton	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Aston	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Aston Ingham	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Avenbury	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Aylton	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Aymestrey	Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)	2 - Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Probate Indexes Online

Before looking for a will, you should search an index. 

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/HEF/ProbateRecords/about.html

Abstracts of Herefordshire Probate Records

http://homepages.which.net/~eleanor.harris/index4.htm

Indexes to the earliest Wills have been created and some published, but, rather surprisingly, the period of time most useful to the ordinary family historian, 1700-1858, has never been indexed - until now! I have created an index to the 42,000 Wills and Administrations and this is a private index that is not available from any other source. It has not yet been published, and will probably not be published for some time
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/HEF/ProbateRecords/about.html

Herefordshire Wills Collections
This page provides details of compilations of Herefordshire Probate Records (Wills), either partial abstracts or indexes, online and in printed collections. The following are listed in reverse order of their creation, or my discovery.

Post-1857 Probate Records

Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system.  The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London.  The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service.  To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills.  The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.