Welcome to the Family History Social

Pinpoint your ancestors' property in 1,346 square miles of the South West of England.

TheGenealogist, a leading UK family history website, has announced a significant addition to its collection of historical records. The website has released the 1910 Lloyd George Domesday records and geolocated maps for the entire county of Wiltshire, covering an impressive 1,346 square miles and containing information on more than 175,000 individuals and organisations.

Bradford on Avon in TheGenealogist’s Lloyd George Domesday Survey

Key Highlights:

• Comprehensive Coverage: The release encompasses the whole of Wiltshire, providing researchers with access to a wealth of genealogical and historical data.

• Geolocated Maps: Advanced mapping technology allows users to pinpoint the exact locations of ancestral properties and landmarks.

• Over 175,000 Names: A treasure trove of information for family historians and researchers interested in early 20th-century Wiltshire.

• Historical Significance: The Lloyd George Domesday records offer unique insights into property ownership and land use in Edwardian England.

Mark Bayley, Head of Online Development at TheGenealogist, stated, "This release of the 1910 Lloyd George Domesday records for Wiltshire is a game-changer for those researching family, local and social history in the county. The combination of detailed records and geolocated maps provides an unprecedented level of insight into the lives of Wiltshire residents at the turn of the 20th century."

The Lloyd George Domesday records, also known as the 1910 Valuation Office Survey records, were created to assess property values for tax purposes. They offer a snapshot of land ownership and occupation just before the outbreak of World War I, making them an invaluable resource for genealogists and historians alike.

Researchers can now:

• Locate ancestral homes and businesses with precision

• Discover details about the area their ancestors lived in, such as locating their local school, church or pub

• Gain insights into the social and economic conditions of Edwardian Wiltshire

• Cross-reference information with other historical records for a more complete family history

This release is part of TheGenealogist's ongoing commitment to providing the most comprehensive and user-friendly resources for family history research. They plan to continue expanding their collection of Lloyd George Domesday records to cover more counties in the coming months.

For more information about the 1910 Lloyd George Domesday records, visit https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/lloyd-george-domesday/.

Read the feature article ‘The Saga of Stonehenge’ at TheGenealogist here:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2024/the-saga-of-stonehenge-7660/ 

To celebrate this release, for a limited time, you can claim a Diamond Subscription for just £94.95, a saving of £45. You can claim this offer here:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/TNALGD924

TheGenealogist is excited to announce the release of nearly 300,000 historic landowner records. The new additions consist of Feet of Fines, Index of Sasines, and the Scotland Record Office Index to Register of Deeds, offering a wealth of information for those delving into their ancestry.

Feet of Fines: These documents provide insights into land transactions, usually involving the transfer of property rights, and were commonly used in English legal proceedings from the 13th century onwards. The Feet of Fines contains detailed information about the parties involved in the transactions, property descriptions, and the dates of agreements, serving as a vital resource for researchers tracing their family land ownership or exploring the economic history of a region.

Index of Sasines: The release of the Index of Sasines marks a significant addition to TheGenealogist's Scottish records. Sasines are legal documents that confirm the possession of land and property, reflecting the transfer of ownership in Scotland from the 16th century onwards. This index allows users to quickly locate and access critical details surrounding property ownership, making it an essential tool for genealogists looking to understand their ancestral ties to land in Scotland.

Scotland Record Office Index to Register of Deeds: This comprehensive index opens the door to a vast array of legal documents relating to property and inheritance in Scotland. By providing easy access to this substantial resource, TheGenealogist allows users to uncover their family histories and gain a deeper understanding of the social and legal contexts in which their ancestors lived.

These new records are now available on TheGenealogist, providing an unparalleled opportunity for researchers to deepen their exploration of family histories and connect with their pasts.

In this release are: Berwick, Index to Register of Sasines Volume I. A-H 1617-1780; London and Middlesex, A Calendar to the Feet of Fines 1179 - 1485; Yorkshire Feet of Fines 1327-1614; Huntingdon Calendar of the Feet of Fines 1194-1603; Scotland, Index to Particular Register of Sasines for Sheriffdom of Dumfries and Stewaertries of Kirkcudbright and Annandale 1617 - 1732; 

Scotland Record Office, Index to Register of Deeds, 1661 - 1679

Read the feature article ‘The Scottish Rebel Who Defied the Crown: Andrew Fletcher's Fight for Independence’ at TheGenealogist here:

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2024/the-scottish-rebel-who-defied-the-crown-7584/ 

To celebrate this release you can Save Over £50 on our Diamond Package here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/affiliate/?affid=lzupkh&page=2723

Detailed Town and Parish Maps go online for the first time

This exciting information has just been released by TheGenealogist:

TheGenealogist has added maps to its comprehensive National Tithe Records collection.

All aspects of society were captured by this survey

• Identify the land your ancestors owned or occupied in the 19th century

• Get an idea of their working lives by the usage made of the plots by your forebears.

• Fully linked tithe maps for Middlesex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire with other counties to follow shortly

• Geographically placing where your ancestors worked and lived

• In partnership with TNA, TheGenealogist is making it possible to search over 11,000,000 records from across England and Wales and to view theses valuable original apportionment documents with linked maps on one website.

It’s always been a challenge to find where our ancestors lived, but now these records can help you explore the fields and houses in their home villages and towns. Never before have family historians been able search nationwide for these ancestral maps. We plan to have complete coverage in the next few months.

Tithe maps allow you to pinpoint your ancestors from our records. They show the boundaries of fields, woods, roads, rivers and the location and shape of buildings. The detail recorded within the maps and apportionment records will show you how much land they owned or occupied, where exactly in the parish it was, what the land was used for and how much tithe rent there was to pay.

The Tithe Commissioners maps are now housed in The National Archives (TNA). Due to their age and the materials used the original maps are often too fragile to handle. These were microfilmed in 1982 and some of the maps have deteriorated over the last 30 years. The first stage of the project is the release of these as online images.

There are over 12,000 main maps plus thousands of update maps as the boundaries of fields changed over time.

The second stage will be the delicate conservation and digitisation of the original colour maps.

“Tithe records are a rich resource for family historians as they cover owners and occupiers of land from all strata of early Victorian society.

These maps can be three to four meters in length by several meters in width and have gone through a multiple levels of digitisation and processing so that the huge maps can load instantly, even on a mobile phone. This fantastic resource was created in the period from 1837 to the early 1850s as a result of one of the largest surveys into the usage, ownership and occupation of land in England and Wales since the Domesday book.”

Mark Bayley - Head of Online Content at TheGenealogist

Diamond subscribers to TheGenealogist are able to view apportionment records for all of England & Wales, with the accompanying maps now being live for Middlesex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Leicestershire. The maps for the rest of England and Wales will follow over the coming months.

See their page TheGenealogist.co.uk/Tithe to freely search the records and learn more about them.

Here is an example provided by TheGenalogist:

Sir Robert Peel in the Tithe records.

We can look for Sir Robert Peel in Middlesex, a county that covered some of the area we would now think of as London. By selecting Landowner Records and then from the drop down menu Tithe Records we then enter Robert Peel into the name fields.

In 1854 Sir Robert, twice Prime Minister of the country and creator of the modern police force, was the occupier of land that was owned by the Earl of Listowell in St Margaret’s, Westminster.

By clicking on the Transcription icon we can then see the names of both the owner and occupier, the date it was entered into the records and the plot number on the plan.

The image of the apportionment reveals that it is a house: No. 22 Princess Gate.

By clicking on the map icon will quickly zoom the researcher in to see the plot on the plan. You can then use the magnify buttons to move in and out to see the plots in relation to the full plan of the parish.

Tithes are a rich resource for family historians to find their ancestors within. The records and maps cover owners and occupiers of land from all strata of society in early Victorian times.

For a special offer of £20 off TheGenealogist Diamond Subscription go to:

www.thegenealogist.co.uk/tithe20