How do I start investigating the history of my house?
House history is fascinating but can also be time consuming and frustrating.
Shropshire Archives has recently published a House History Guide. This gives background information about the sources available at Shropshire Archives and tells you how to access them. Why not visit our Shop to find out more?
What information do you have on towns and villages in Shropshire
Shropshire Archives holds all sorts of information including maps, population figures, trade and street directories, electoral registers and photographs. For many places there are also records of the local churches, chapels, schools and landed estates.
We are producing guides to places for each of the 300 parishes in Shropshire. Why not begin by following the link to these?
Where do I find Shropshire maps?
The 6 inch to the mile maps of the late nineteenth century for the whole country are on-line. You can search for places and zoom in to incredible detail on the modern ShropMap. Please visit the links on this page.
Shropshire Archives holds a large number of maps, including:
- modern (superseded) Ordnance Survey Maps
- old series Ordnance Survey Maps, c 1881-1930
- tithe maps, 1836-1850
- enclosure maps
- deposited plans
- estate maps and surveys
What about old photographs?
We have a large collection of photographs, dating from the Victorian times to the present day. To see photographs here, you will need one of our Readers' Tickets; more details about these are on our website in the section Visiting Shropshire Archives.
You can see many photographs and illustrations on-line. Check the Secret Shropshire website to find out more. For Oswestry, the Routes to Roots website contains many photographs and other useful resources. For Bridgnorth and Oswestry, the Discover Shropshire project is bringing together photographs and other resources to help people to find out more about their families and the history of their communities.
We can provide high quality reproductions of old photographs on photographic paper or as digital images on CD or via email. Find out more by visiting our Image Services page.
Advice on looking after your own photographs is given on our Conservation pages.
For both of these, please select the link What we can do for you to find out more.
Where can I find out about the archaeology of Shropshire?
Shropshire Archives holds many books which may be useful. For a summary of what we hold for archaeological research, visit our guide to sources page.
The archaeology section of the Discovering Shropshire’s History website includes searchable databases for the Shropshire Historic Environment Record (19,000+ records) and the Shropshire County Museums Service.
As part of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the Museums Service helps identify and records finds by members of the public. Some are show cased on the Discovering Shropshire’s History website.
Some information regarding the archaeology of Shropshire has been digitised as part of the Secret Shropshire project based at the Shropshire Archives. You can search for relevant images on the web-site www.secretshropshire.org.uk
Shropshire Council’s Archaeology Service offers a variety of services for local heritage and community groups.
Where can I find other local record offices and libraries?
Oswestry Town Council also holds its own archives and there are many items of interest at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Library and Archives. The contact details for all archive offices across England and Wales are given in the ARCHON directory. It is worth remembering that relevant material may be held by the national organizations, such as the National Archives, the British Library or the National Library of Wales.
The main local studies collection is at Shropshire Archives -this is for reference only. Oswestry Library, Ludlow Library and Bridgnorth Library also have good local studies collections for their areas. You can borrow books from the Shropshire Library Service. For more information, please select the link to the Shropshire Library Service.
More about Shropshire's history and heritage...
For much more information about Shropshire's heritage, why not select the link to the Discovering Shropshire's History pages?
You can search for contact details for many local history societies on the Community Directory.
The Friends of Shropshire Archives organize local history days and walks throughout the county.