This list offers suggestions for people interested in local history. Copies
of all the books cited are held at the Gloucestershire Archives (Gloucestershire Record Office); some
of the older or rarer ones (indicated by an asterisk) may not be available
through the Library service.
Anyone interested in the history of a parish or hamlet or a very old building
in it should first look at the relevant volume of the Victoria History of Gloucestershire
if that area has so far been covered. Some aspects of the study and practice
of local history are covered by classes organised by Bristol University or the
Workers' Educational Association (see current programmes)
General
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| Many good introductions to the study of local
history have been published and this short list is not intended to imply
that these are the only books you should read. |
| Philip Riden: Local history: a handbook for beginners, 1983, Batsford
Academic and Educational Ltd, London |
A useful short introduction |
| David Dymond: Writing local history: a practical guide, new
ed. 1988, Phillimore & Co Ltd |
All sorts of practical tips based on his
experience in running a local history
research group |
| Kate Tiller: English Local History An introduction, 1992,
Alan Sutton |
Chronological survey well illustrated with
examples of sources and case studies of
their use |
Guides to Sources
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| W B Stephens: Sources for English Local History, 2nd
ed. 1981, Cambridge UP |
Riden, below, often refers to this book |
| Philip Riden: Record sources for local history, 1987,
Phillimore & Co Ltd |
Especially good for records in the Public
Record Office |
| Peter Edwards: Farming Sources for Local Historians,
Batsford, 1991 |
Good compendium, but weak on medieval
sources (some explanations poor) |
John West: Village records, 2nd edition 1982, Phillimore
& Co Ltd
John West: Town records, 1983, Phillimore & Co Ltd |
Still useful though a bit dated in their general approach |
| David Hey: Oxford Companion to Local and Family History,
Oxford University Press, 1996 |
Comprehensive encyclopaedia of history,
archaeology, architecture and landscape |
| John Richardson: The local historian's encyclopaedia,
reprinted 1986, Historical Publications Ltd, Herts |
A useful vade mecum containing short
definitions of unusual terms, addresses,
lists of publications, etc. |
Bibliographies
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| Roland Austin: Catalogue of the Gloucestershire Collection,
Gloucester Library, 1928 |
Always look here for local secondary sources; updated lists are at the
Library |
| E L C Mullins: Texts & Calendars, Royal Historical Society
1958; additional volume 1983 |
Fully indexed list of original documents published by local and national
record societies. |
Genealogy
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| I have not attempted to analyse the scores of
introductions to family history now available. | |
| M. E. Richards: Gloucestershire Family History, 3rd
ed. (revised by David J.H. Smith), Gloucestershire County Council, 1993 |
The best for Gloucestershire |
| Stella Colwell: The Family History Book, 2nd ed. Phaidon,
1989 |
Very thorough, especially for less well- known sources |
| S Raymond and T Gibson: English Genealogy: An Introductory
Bibliography, Federation of Family History Societies, 1991 |
Very helpful |
| S Raymond: Gloucestershire and Bristol: A Genealogical
Bibliography, FFHS, 1992 |
Also extremely useful |
| T. V. H. FitzHugh: The dictionary of genealogy, 1985,
Alphabooks, Dorset |
The dictionary format makes it easy to use |
| Colin D. Rogers: Tracing missing persons, 1986, Manchester
University Press |
A very comprehensive guide to this increasingly popular quest |
| A. J. Camp: Wills and their whereabouts, Society of
Genealogists, 1974 |
Good guide to finding the will you want |
| Miriam Scott: Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills and
other probate records, Public Record Office Readers Guide no. 15, 1997 |
Useful guide to local records held in London |
| E. Higgs: Making Sense of the Census, Public Record
Office, 1989, HMSO |
Excellent explanation and guide to pitfalls |
| E Higgs A Clearer Sense of the Census, Public Record
Office Handbooks No.28, 1966, H M S 0 |
Updated version of the above with extra chapters on using the Census |
| J. Gibson: The Gibson Guides, Federation of Family
History Societies |
A wide range of sources briefly described with directory of where to find
them |
Demography
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| E. A. Wrigley and R. S. Schofield: The Population History
of England 1541-1871, 1981, Edward Arnold Publishers Ltd, London |
Detailed discussion with full statistical
support |
| Alan Macfarlane: Reconstructing Historical Communities,
1977, Cambridge University Press |
Comprehensive study of one village in
Essex with full list of all useful sources |
Old Houses
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| Kate Haslem, Barbara Griffith and Graham Baker: Your House
has History, Gloucestershire County Council, 1993 |
Indispensable short guide to local sources |
| Pamela Cunnington: How old is your house?, 1980, Alphabooks,
Dorset |
Still useful, with a useful combination of
advice on written and architectural evidence |
| Maurice Barley: Houses and history, 1986, Faber & Faber,
London |
More detailed and up-to-date than Pamela
Cunnington, but a history rather than a
guide to study |
| Linda J. Hall: The rural houses of Northavon and South
Gloucestershire 1400-1720, City of Bristol Monograph no. 6, 1983, City
of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery |
A detailed survey and gazetteer with
guidance on local construction techniques
to help date older houses |
Heraldry
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| C. W. Scott-Giles and J. P. Brooke-Little: Boutell's Heraldry,
1983, Frederick Warne |
A clear full explanation of how heraldry
works |
| J. W. Papworth: Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials,
1985, Heraldry Today |
A classified list of coats of arms to identify
the family from the design |
| A. C. Fox-Davies (ed.): Armorial Families 1970, David
and Charles |
Coats of arms described in surname order |
| H. Chesshyre and T. Woodcock Dictionary of British Arms.
Medieval Ordinary Vols.I and 2, 1992 and 1996 Society of Antiquaries
of London |
Will eventually be a full revision of
Papworth (above) |
Use of Certain Types of Documents
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Business Records
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| John Armstrong and Stephanie Jones: Business documents:
their origins, sources and uses in historical research, 1987, Mansell
Publishing Ltd, London |
A good introduction to records all too rarely used |
Church Records
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| D. M. Owen: The records of the Established Church in England,
excluding parochial records, 1970, British Records Association Archives
and the User no.1 |
A brief but comprehensive guide |
| W. E. Tate: The parish chest: a study of the records of parochial
administration in England, 3rd edition, reprinted 1979 Cambridge University
Press |
Thorough, and reliable |
| R. J. P. Kain and H. C. Prince: The tithe surveys of England
and Wales, 1985 Cambridge University Press |
A full discussion of these most important records |
| *J S. Purvis: An introduction to Ecclesiastical records,
1953, St Anthony's Press, London |
Still useful for his printed examples of documents |
| Anne Tarver: Church Court Records, Phillimore, 1995 |
Far from ideal, but the only recent work on the subject |
| J. H. Bettey: Church and Parish: a guide for local historians,
1987, B T Batsford Ltd, London |
Places the church in the context of the local community from earliest
times - thorough and comprehensive |
| P. Palgrave Moore: Understanding the History & Records
of Nonconformity, 2nd edition, 1988 Elvery Dowers Publications, Norfolk |
A good short introduction to a complex topic |
| M Mullett: Sources for the History of English Nonconformity
1660-1830, British Records Association: Archives and the User no.8,
1991 |
Good full text and notes but no index (and no Gloucestershire sources
used) |
Criminal Records
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| David T Hawking: Criminal Ancestors: A Guide to Historical
Criminal Records in England and Wales, 1992, Alan Sutton |
Extremely helpful examples and case
studies, but beware: some sources from
counties he has not studied give slightly
different information from his examples,
and some of his explanations on procedures
are inaccurate, e.g. on the law of settlement |
Deeds
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| N. W. Alcock: Old title deeds: a guide for local and family
historians, 1986, Phillimore |
A good introduction on using these difficult
documents but beware of the glossary
which contains errors |
| A. A. Dibben: Title deeds 13th-19th centuries, Historical
Association (H72), reprinted 1990 |
A detailed explanation of particular types
of deed not superseded by Alcock (above) |
Manorial Records
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| Denis Stuart Manorial Records: An Introduction to their
Transcription and Translation, 1996, Phillimore |
The only book which teaches you how to
cope from scratch with manorial records in
Latin. Excellent. |
| Peter B. Park: My ancestors were Manorial Tenants,
Society of Genealogists, 1990 |
A good short introduction, especially on
holding and transferring copyhold land |
| P. D. A. Harvey: Manorial records, 1984 British Records
Association: Archives and the User no.5 |
An excellent survey |
| *Giles Jacob: The Complete Court-Keeper or Land-Steward's
Assistant (various editions since 1713)
| A contemporary practical text book with
full formulary; invaluable for
understanding the records |
Maps
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| Paul Hindle: Maps for local history, 1988, B T Batsford
Ltd, London |
A useful survey but not a substitute for
specialist books like Kain and Prince (above) |
| Brian Short: The Geography of England and Wales in 1910:
An Evaluation of Lloyd George's ‘Domesday' of Landownership, Institute
of British Geographers Historical Geography Research Series no.22, 1989 |
Detailed explanation of an important source
often overlooked |
Oral History
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| Stephen Caunce: Oral History and the Local Historian,
1994 |
At last a full-length up-to-date guide on its
uses, pitfalls and how to do it |
Photographs
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| George Oliver: Photographs and local history, 1989,
B T Batsford Ltd, London |
A fully illustrated discussion of
photographs as historical sources with
helpful hints on identification and dating |
Taxation Records
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| Kevin Schurer and Tom Arkell (eds.): Surveying the People,
Local Population Studies, 1992 |
Indispensable guide to poll tax, hearth tax
and Marriage Duty Act |
Dictionaries and Glossaries
|
|
| The Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press |
Excellent for archaic words |
| Rosemary Milward: A glossary of household, farming and
trade terms from probate inventories, Derbyshire Record Society Occasional
Paper no.! |
If you cannot carry the OED around with
you this 50-page pamphlet is probably the
next best thing |
| *R. E. Zupko: A dictionary of English weights and measures,
1969, The University of Wisconsin Press |
Rare, but the only comprehensive work in
its field |
| *J. S. Purvis: Dictionary of Ecclesiastical terms, 1962,
Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, London |
Like Zupko (above) this is not strictly a
dictionary but more a mini-encyclopaedia |
| *Giles Jacob: A new law dictionary, 1744, Printed by
Henry Lintot, London |
An indispensable work of reference for
anyone dealing with legal documents of a
period up to the nineteenth century |
Latin
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| Eileen A. Gooder: Latin for local history, reprinted
1978, Longmans, London |
Helps those with no Latin to understand
Latin documents; useful examples with
translations |
| R. E. Latham: Revised medieval Latin word list, reprinted
1989, British Academy, London |
The best one-volume dictionary |
| *R. E. Latham and D. R. Howlett: Dictionary of medieval
Latin from British sources (A-H only so far), published for the British
Academy by Oxford University Press |
This will be the last word in this field |
| *C. T. Martin: The record interpreter: a collection of
abbreviations, Latin words and names used in English historical manuscripts
and records, reprinted 1990, London |
Very useful for anyone using Latin
documents |
| *Adriano Cappelli: Dizionario di Abbreviature Latine...,
6th edition 1987, (Milan) Editore Ulrice Hoepli Milano |
The best guide to Latin abbreviations with
the advantage over The Record Interpreter
(above) that it provides facsimiles of the
original words as written in the manuscript |
French
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| J. H. Baker: A manual of law French, 1990, Gower Publishing
Co Ltd, England |
Good single-volume dictionary |
| *L W Stone and W Rothwell (eds.): Anglo-Norman Dictionary,
London, 1977- |
When completed it will be definitive |
Handwriting
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| H. E. P. Grieve: Examples of English handwriting 1150-
1750, Essex Record Office Publication no.2 1 |
Still very useful |
| K. C. Newton: Medieval local records: a reading aid, 1970,
The Historical Association |
Very good, including (as does Grieve)
plates of documents with transcripts on
facing pages |
| *Alf Ison: A secretary hand ABC book, Berkshire Books,
Berks County Council |
Best introduction to Tudor and Stuart
hands |
| L. C. Hector: The handwriting of English documents,
1958, Edward Arnold Ltd. London |
Good plates with transcripts(though not on
facing pages) |
| *C. Johnson and H. Jenkinson: English court hand 1066-
1500 illustrated chiefly from the public records, 1914, Cambridge University
Press |
Still indispensable for early public records,
especially the plates, as is the companion
volume Later court hands |
| David Gosden: Starting to Read Medieval Latin Manuscript,
1994, Llanerch Publishers |
Quite useful for novices |
Dating
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| C. R. Cheney: Handbook of dates for students of English
history, The Royal Historical Society, London |
All you need to know about regnal years,
saints' days, legal chronology and how to
date documents |
Place Names
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| Margaret Gelling: Signposts to the past, Phillimore,
1988 |
A useful introduction to this very specialist
field. |