Table of contents - Blackpool Council

H4 INDEXES FOR LANCASHIRE AND ADJACENT AREAS BEFORE 1858:
some suggested sources
H4.1 Lancashire Archives Catalogue can be searched online. From the Home Page, click on
LANCAT, then Advanced Search. One of the options on the dropdown menu under “Look in....” is
“Wills and other probate documents”.
NB. The Lancashire Archives publication Finding folk contains a list of the probate records
held there and a map of the probate jurisdictions in N. W. England before 1858. Finding folk is
classified at LG1 and shelved in Bay 27.
H4.2 The University of Central Lancashire’s Institute of Local & Family History has prepared an
Index of about 36,000 Wills and related documents from Lancashire north of the Ribble, plus parts of
Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire, dated between 1748 and 1858. Access is by subscription,
but indexes are free to view.
H4.3 Cheshire Record Office holds over 70,000 original wills and probate records dated between
1540 and 1857, plus about 60,000 microfilm copies of wills proved at Chester between 1858 and
1940. Searchable online, but not downloadable. (See also the “Cheshire Collection” on findmypast.)
H5 OTHER INDEXES FOR LANCASHIRE AND ADJACENT AREAS BEFORE 1858
(printed and on fiche)
For the sake of completeness we have listed below the Library’s holdings of Indexes to Wills proved in
Lancashire and adjacent areas before 1858: some are in book form, the remainder are on fiche.
Researchers should of course ignore references in these Indexes to locations such as “Ecclesiastical
Courts”, “Courts of Probate” and “Somerset House”, since most of the Wills are now in local Record
Offices: for the present locations of Wills dated before 1858, please refer to item H1.2 above,
Probate Jurisdictions: where to look for wills.
HOWEVER, many of these Indexes are gradually becoming available online, and researchers may prefer
to use the sources listed in Sections H3 and H4.
H5.1 16 th century CHETHAM SOCIETY
Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester: the first
portion, ed. by the Rev. G. J. Piccope. (Publications, Old Series, vol. 33)
1857 microfiche
H5.2 16 th century CHETHAM SOCIETY
Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester: the second
portion, ed. by the Rev. G. J. Piccope. (Publications, Old Series, vol. 51)
1860 microfiche
H5.3 16 th century CHETHAM SOCIETY
Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester: the third
portion, ed. by the Rev. G. J. Piccope. (Publications, Old Series, vol. 54)
1861 microfiche
H5.4 1457-1650 CHETHAM SOCIETY
[52] Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories at Chester, with an Appendix of [141] Abstracts of
Wills now lost or destroyed, [dated between 1457 and 1650] transcribed by the late Rev. G. J. Piccope,
[and] edited by J. P. Earwaker. (Publications, New Series, vol. 3)
1884 Bay 31 LA15
H5.5 1542-1696 CHETHAM SOCIETY
[51] Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories 1572 to 1696, now preserved at Chester. With an
Appendix of [108] Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories proved at York or Richmond, 1542
to 1649. Edited by J. P. Earwaker. (Publications, New Series, vol.. 28.)
1893 microfiche and Bay 31 LA 15
Includes a few items relating to Westmoreland.
125 Localstu/geneabib/Aug12