Guide to sources held

Parish Records

There are many classes of parish records reflecting both the parish’s ecclesiastical and civil functions. The most widely used by far, however, are parish registers of baptism, marriage and burial. Parish registers are particularly useful for family historians, and they are the best source of personal information about individuals before the beginning of civil registration in 1837. 

:: more on Parish Records

Maps and Plans

Various classes of maps exist in the DALHS collection covering the whole of the present Dudley Borough, although some areas are better covered than others.  First edition Ordnance Survey maps date from around 1880 and we hold all but the current edition, which can be seen at Dudley Reference Library.  When combined with our selection of tithe and manuscript maps, the urban development of the Borough can be traced even further back.

:: more on Maps and Plans

Poor Law

DALHS holds material for both the Old Poor Law, mainly being the records of the Overseers of the Poor, and the New Poor Law, the more familiar Poor Law Unions.  Dare you discover the records of the dreaded workhouse and delve into another world?

:: more on the Old Poor Law

:: more on the New Poor Law

Newspapers

DALHS stores a wide selection of newspapers, the earliest being the Wolverhampton Chronicle (from 1830) and The Brierley Hill Advertiser (from 1856).  Newspapers were circulated widely, the area determined by commercial factors, not county or ecclesiastical boundaries and provincial newspapers would cover a wide geographical area.

:: more on Newspapers

Printed Sources

Trade directories list, by parish, private residents (middle and upper classes) and tradespeople.  This can help locate a family, or confirm the existence of a particular firm.  Not everyone is listed in a trade directory.  

Newspapers can obtain obituaries, details of funerals, notices of christenings, marriages, burials, details of coroners inquests, accidents and court proceedings.  We only have indexes to 19th century newspapers.

It is also worth checking whether pedigrees, biographies and family trees have already been produced for the family in which you are interested. 

Photographs

DALHS stores a wide selection of photographs which are available to view.  These range from old photographs of the borough's localities, to images of rural and urban life from the late 19th century to the modern day.

:: more photographs from the past