How to use Explore Facility

Information is stored in the database under ‘Entries’. Each Entry is referenced against certain characteristics, which you can use to help your search. Use the Explore template (at the top of the Explore page) to search for text and/ narrow down your search by filtering by characteristics. The more filters you apply the narrower the search. Click ‘Go’ and the Entries returned by your search will appear in a list below the search template. When you click on an individual Entry it takes you to the Header Page for that Entry, which gives access to the information and documents relating to the Entry.

Tip: click ‘Reset Search’ button if you are starting a new search

Entry ID

This is a unique reference for each Entry. If you know this, you can enter it to get to that Entry

Description (text search)

If you enter words in the box it will search for those words appearing together in the Short Description (i.e. the heading for that Entry) and/or the introductory text that appears on the Header Page for that Entry. It does not search the documents in the database itself. If you can’t find what you are looking for, try different options for the description. Spelling must match exactly. Punctuation such as apostrophes can disrupt searches (eg you need to search for “St Mary” rather than “St Mary’s”). The search is not case sensitive.

Surname

Where there is a specific reference to a person, we have tried to capture this in the ‘persons’ data for this Entry. This is a list of persons showing surname, title and first names and can be seen on the Header Page for the Entry. The search works off the surname only, and has to be an exact match. However, capturing all the thousands of persons mentioned in numerous documents is a huge task, and is only partially completed. There are Entries in the database that have information on lots of individual persons (e.g. parish registers, census returns, detailed histories), and in such cases we have not yet been able to reference all the persons. See below for suggestions on where you might be able to find more information on a person you are interested in.

Other places to look:  Read more

Location

Where there is a specific reference to a location or individual house, we have tried to capture this in the ‘location’ reference. This works off modern postal addresses (select post code and then house name/ number). Select ‘other no postcode’ to search for certain other locations with no postcode (such as ‘pond’ and ‘church meadow’). However, there are Entries in the database that have information on lots of individual properties (e.g. detailed maps or research documents), and in such cases we have not yet been able to reference all the locations. See below for suggestions on where you might be able to find more information on a location you are interested in.

Maps Read more

Histories Read more

Other documents Read more