News & Information (Resources)

The National Archives (TNA) at Kew is currently closed to the public. While this
continues, it is allowing people to download up to 50 digitised items per 30-day period
free of charge. Usually the price is £3.50 per will. Only 10 items can be downloaded at a
time, but when you have done so you can go back and collect some more (subject to the
above limit).

Scanned PDF images of the office copies of wills proved at the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury are available on this basis from the TNA site. There are over a million wills to
choose from – you can search for those of interest on this page:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/wills-
1384-1858/

In order to use the service, you have to sign up for a free TNA account (or use your
existing one). Setting up an account is easy. The link to do so is:
https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/Register

The Prerogative Court of Canterbury was the senior probate court for England and Wales
until 1858.

I have uploaded a document which covers case studies of some of the inmates of Axbridge Workhouse.  It includes names such as ADDICOTT, ALDERMAN, BAILEY, BROOKS, BURR, COOMBS, DAUNTON, FOGARTY and of course HASE!  It was originally part of my thesis to show how the Workhouse impacted upon the lives of its residents.  Many thanks to those who assisted me back in 1998 when this was put together.  It can be found as the last entry under Axbridge Poor Law Union 
Scroll to the bottom of the page.

To commemorate VE Day, a document containing the memories of 25 Weston residents during WW2 has been uploaded.  It can be found under Places, Weston-super-Mare. Scroll down to the bottom. With many thanks to those who contributed.

I have just uploaded part of my study of Axbridge Union Workhouse submitted for my MA in 1998. I hope that you will finds parts interesting and useful - I will add the Appendices later.  I set out to consider the symbiotic relationship between family and local history and used responses from fellow family historians in compiling this document.  Some Workhouse inmates are named and inferences drawn about their connection with the Workhouse.   You can find it at the bottom of this page
or under "Axbridge Poor Law Union" on the  home page Menu.

I have received this welcome communication from Weston Library:  I've tried it and it works!

"Ancestry are allowing us to use ancestrylibrary.com from home temporarily while the libraries are shut.

As the access needs to be secure we are fortunate that LibrariesWest libraries are all subscribers.

If people log in to www.librarieswest.org.uk with their library card and PIN. Look for the words in the middle of the page

Access to Ancestry Library Edition and click on the heading. This should take them to Ancestry. If they just go to the home page without logging in it won’t be visible. People need to use this link each time they want to use Ancestry as it is expects people to arrive at the website from www.librarieswest.org.uk via the link.

(P.S. It will say Bath Central Library rather than North Somerset Libraries)."  

With thanks to member John Rigarlsford and a group of fellow researchers we have added a PDF under Burnham on Sea about the life and times of George REED 1805-1869 who was Lord of the Manor of East Brent and Benefactor of Burnham. The Groups involved in this were the George Reed Study Group, the North Sedgemoor Local History Group and the East Brent Parish History Group and we are grateful for their permission to publish their findings on our web page. Some years ago I researched the life of George REED and have been able to contribute to this document. If you have ancestors in Burnham between 1836 and 1869 it is likely that they would have known George REED and his legacy to Burnham is still visible today.  Go to Information Sources, click on Places / Churches.  Click on Burnham on Sea (not the church) and you will see the document relating to Burnham on Sea.