Love (& Death) in the Archives

3rd February 2015

Love is in the archives, and you can find out more on Tuesday 17th February at our workshop about parish records, which will be held at The Hive. Within the many parish records held here at Worcestershire Archives are the parish registers, including marriage registers, and the baptisms which then resulted from many of these partnerships. The third part of the registers are the burials, the final part of ‘hatched, matched and dispatched’.

The registers are heavily used by family and local historians, as they detail thousands and thousands of Worcestershire people, crucial for tracing your family tree, particularly before civil registration began in 1837. In amongst these names are little stories and unusual occurrences, such as wife sales, earthquakes, plague, and disputes over unidentified bodies.

Paul Hudson, Learning and Outreach Manager, will be guiding you through our parish records workshop.

Registers though are just part of the story, as the parish was a useful administrative body for all sorts of jobs. Poor Law, charities and apprenticeships also fell under the remit of the parish, and these records are less well known and underused – but they can still tell a tale of the local people and village.

This workshop is a repeat of a popular event we have held before; the previous workshop was fully booked so you will need to book your places soon if you want the chance to come along this time. Lasting 2.5 hours, you will get the opportunity to see some of Worcestershire’s original documents from the past 500 years as well as find out how to search for the records your research requires.

The workshop coincides with Love Worcester, a week-long festival of heritage in Worcester. For more details about other events see www.visitworcestershire.org or #loveworcester on twitter.

The workshop costs £8. To book a place please email us on explorethepast@worcestershire.gov.uk or phone 01905 766352.

Comments

One response to “Love (& Death) in the Archives”

ritaroberts says:

February 6, 2015 at 5:06 pm

What a great idea ! There have been many changes since I last worked at Worcester Archaeology.. Workshops have grown more and more which is excellent for students. I loved the hands- on workshops where the young classes came to handle and learn about ancient pottery. Good luck with Exploring the Past

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