Wiltshire Online
BEST WEBSITES TO AID YOUR RESEARCH
The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre website has been revamped recently and two useful places to start are the first steps ( www. wshc.eu/first-steps-in-family-history.html) and next steps ( www.wshc.eu/next-steps-infamily-history.html) pages. There’s also the planning a visit page ( www.wshc.eu/planninga-visit.html) and the online catalogue ( calmview.wiltshire.gov.uk/CalmView).
Wiltshire’s school admission registers (for local authority funded schools) are available via Findmypast’s national school registers 1870-1914 ( www.findmypast.co.uk/school-registers). Parish registers and bishops’ transcripts are due to be published by Ancestry in 2017 and Ancestry are also completing the digitisation of the probate collection.
The wiltshirebmd.org.uk website was created by the Wiltshire FHS in collaboration with the local registration office. It represents an incomplete index to the original registers of births, marriages and deaths held at Wiltshire Register Office. The Wiltshire FHS website is also worth visiting ( wiltshirefhs.co.uk).
Wiltshire Community History ( history. wiltshire.gov.uk/community/index.php) is in need of an upgrade, but remains a valuable resource for local and family history. And don’t forget to explore the various project websites such as the Know Your Place West of England project. If anyone is interested in volunteering they should visit www.kypwest.org.uk/ support-us.
Other projects include Lacock Unlocked ( www.wshc.eu/lacock), where you can also download the associated smartphone app, Wiltshire MDR ( www.wshc.eu/blog/item/manorial-document-register.html), Wiltshire at War ( www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk) and Creative Wiltshire ( creativewiltshire.com).
Other websites include Moonrakers Wiltshire Genealogy ( www.moonrakers.org.uk/index.asp), Wiltshire Online Parish Clerks ( www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk), Duncan and Mandy Ball’s collection of 42,000 photos of places, mainly churches, in Wiltshire ( www.oodwooc.co.uk), the Wiltshire Local History Forum ( www.wlhf.co.uk), Genuki ( www.genuki.org.uk /big/eng/WIL) and the FamilySearch wiki ( familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wiltshire,_ England_Genealogy), which has a useful ‘ Wiltshire online records’ button.