The photo is of the Public Record Office, Kew
Following is a list of the main London Record Offices and Depositories together with their location and a brief description of their holdings. There are other London archives and you will find details of these listed in the booklet "Record Offices How to find them" by Jeremy Gibson and Pamela Peskett; published by the Federation of Family History Societies (ISBN 1 86006 028 5). This lists addresses (including location map) of all record offices throughout England & Wales and is well worth purchasing:
Address: 1 Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 8392 5308
Opening times: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9.00am - 5.00pm; Tuesday 10.00am - 7.00pm; Thursday 9.00am - 7.00pm; Saturday 9.30am - 5.00pm
Nearest Underground Stations: Angel (Northern Line) Farringdon (Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Circle Lines)
Start here if you are new to genealogy. You will find most things you need to trace your ancestors back to the early 1800s.
Holdings:
You may order copies of birth, marriage and death certificates here (cost £6.50 at time of writing - July 1999)
Has web site.
Address: 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 7332 3820
Opening times: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9.30am - 4.45pm; Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am - 7.30pm.
Nearest Underground Station: Farringdon (Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Circle Lines)
Administered by the City of London but as its name suggests holds records from the old County of Middlesex and Metropolitan London south of the River Thames (except the City of London - see Guild Hall library). Holdings include Parish Records, official Court Records, Middlesex Deed Register, Photographs and many other miscellaneous records. Also has an extensive library.
No separate web site but has a section on the City of London web site.
The Probate Service, Principal Registry of the Family Division
Address: First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 7936 7000
Opening times:
Nearest Underground Station: Chancery Lane (Central Line)
Holds copies of all wills and administrations proved after 12 January 1858 which can be inspected or a copy ordered for a fee (£5 at the time of writing) in the Probate Search Room. Provided the date of death is known, photocopies of registered wills can be ordered by post for a fee from the Court Service, York probate Sub-Registry, Duncombe Place, York YO1 2EA (tel: 01904 671564. Note: microfiche copies of the indexes to wills and administrations, 1858-1943 are held at the Family Records Centre and the Public Record Office.
Address: Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 8392 5200
Opening times:
Nearest Underground Station: Kew Gardens (District Line)
Formerly known as the major national archive and depository. Their holdings are far too extensive to list. You are advised to view their web site to view their holdings. Includes a search facility. Has online catalogue.
Has web site.
Address: 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 7251 8799
Opening times:
Nearest Underground Station: Barbican (Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Circle Lines)
The library is the foremost in the British Isles with a large collection of family histories, civil registration and census material, and the widest collection of family histories, civil registration, census material, and Parish Register copies in the country (over 9,000). There are also local histories, poll books and directories, other topographical material, and the publications of county records and archaeological societies. Sections relate to the professions, schools and universities, the services, religious denominations, the peerage and heladry, and to Bristish citizens living abroad, in the Commonwealth and USA. Boyd's Marriage Index covers some 2,600 parish registers with nearly seven million names: a general Card Index contains some three million references: there are about 6,000 rolls of microfilm (including Scottish civil registration indexes) and the IGI index on both CD ROM and fiche.
Has web site.
City of Westminster Archives Centre
Address: 10 St Ann's Street, London SW1P 2XR
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 7641 5179
Opening times: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9.30am - 7.00pm; Friday 9.30am - 9.00pm; Saturday 9.30am - 5.00pm
Nearest Underground Station: St James' Park (District & Circle Lines)
Holds records relating to the City of Westminster going back to at least 1561. Also holds copies of the GRO microfiche registers to 1965 as well as various indexes. Has a good library.
Has section within Westminster Libraries & Archives web site.
Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section
Address: Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 7332 1862/1863
Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9.30am - 4.45pm
Nearest Underground Station: St Pauls (Central Line)
Holds a multiplicity of records but if you want to consult the Parish Records for the City of London you will have to come here to the Manuscripts Section on the first floor. However it is rather small, although adequate, and the microfim copier is not able to focus small enough to copy post 1837 marriage entries in one go. I had to copy one in two halves and then cut and stick it together at home!
Has brief entry within City of London web site.
Address: 211 Borough High Street, London SE1 1JA
Telephone: (44)-(0)20 7403 8633
Opening times: Monday, Thursday 9.30am - 8.00pm; Tuesday, Friday 9.30am - 5.00pm; Saturday 9.30am - 1.00pm
Nearest Underground Station: Borough (Northern Line)
Invaluable if you have ancestors who lived in the London Borough of Southwark (Southwark, Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Walworth, Camberwell, Peckham, Nunhead and Dulwich). They are unique in having a large number of unpublished indexes for the 1851 census; a great timesaver in this densely populated part of London. They also have microfilm copies of all Parish Records and censuses for the area as well as vestry minutes, rate records, poor law records, library, photographs etc.
Has no web page which we can connect to although there is supposed to be one in the London Borough of Southwark web site. Keep's changing. Type in 'Local Studies Library' in the site search facility.