Shropshire Archives research service

Shropshire Archives' comprehensive Research Service offers you the full resources of the collections without the need to travel to Shrewsbury.

Our experienced researcher may be able to help you with:

• family history
• house or building history
• other aspects of local history
• transcription and translation

The Research Service, for a fee, undertakes searches in the wide range of sources held in Shropshire Archives which include original archives, official, parish, nonconformist, and private collections, printed and microform sources e.g. directories, census, newspapers and the General Register Office index.

Research fee and payments

The fee, including VAT and postage, is £20 per hour. The fee for an additional half hour's work is £10. The fee will cover a detailed report of the search and its results, suggesting further lines of enquiry. A limited number of photocopies may be provided free of charge if that is judged to be the most economical way of presenting the results. Additional copying, photocopies, certified copies or photographs where appropriate can be supplied according to the standard scale of fees in Shropshire Archives.

Payment must be made in Sterling by cheque, Postal Order or Money Order drawn on a UK clearing bank and made payable to Shropshire County Council or by Visa or MasterCard

All fees are payable in advance. Payment may be made as follows:

• a one or two hour search can be specified and paid for in advance to a maximum of £40.
• enquirers uncertain of the potential length of a search may make an initial payment of at least the minimum fee (£20) and state the maximum length of search required. This should not exceed two hours search additional to that covered by the advance payment. The final cost will be notified on completion and results will not be despatched until full payment is received. In all cases quotes for additional copying, where appropriate, will be notified and copies despatched on receipt of payment.

Guidance on using the Research Service

It is important that requests for searches are as specific as possible. The Research Service Order Form is attached to this page as a publication. Please complete this and indicate clearly your search requirements with dates, places and any relevant information you already hold.

For example, it would be impractical to search for a John Benyon from Shropshire in the 18th century but reasonable to look for him if it were suggested that he came from the Oswestry area, born about 1780.

Requests for research into the history of property should always be accompanied by precise details of location either marked on a modern map of the area or with the modern grid reference. An address e.g. Hawthorn Cottage, Cressage, will be insufficient to identify property.

There can be no guarantee that a search will produce positive information. The researcher will endeavour to provide the information required in the time provided, but please bear in mind that the result of the search may be disappointingly negative or minimal. Enquirers are reminded of the difficulties of deciphering and interpreting entries. Any information given will represent the considered opinion of the researcher and an indication of any uncertainty will be given. Shropshire Archives cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions.

Searches will be carried out in the order in which they are received. Delays may occur according to the demands of the service. An acknowledgement will be sent within 10 working days of the receipt of a letter. At busy periods delays may be several weeks. The County Archivist reserves the right to refuse to undertake a search if the information supplied is inadequate, and the right to undertake searches in 2 hour stages in order to meet the needs of other users.

Copies of the results of searches are filed in the Shropshire Archives and are accessible for study. The information may be made available to those unable to visit the Archives on payment of reasonable fees. From these sources the Archives can put people in contact with those researching the same topic. Anyone who does not wish information researched on their behalf or their names and addresses to be supplied to others should indicate on the order form by deleting the appropriate words.

All enquiries must be conducted by letter. The researcher is not available by telephone or in person without payment of the appropriate fee.

Please make sure you provide a postal address as well as your email address. This will enable us to contact you in the event that your email address is incorrect or fails to deliver.