West Country Genealogy

News & Updates

04 May 2008
The latest update is in the South East Somerset section. Have changed and updated the main North Cheriton page including some information about the parish as well as links to the surrounding parishes. Also added some useful offsite links those being to the history of North Cheriton as well as a link to a parish map. Have also completed and added a transcription of the 1841 Census.

20 April 2008
After a few months break bought on by other committments I now have the time once again to start adding more transcriptions of records to the website. Click through to the blog to see what is happening and what is planned over the next few months.

Many researchers with interests in the Wincanton parish of Somerset are aware of a book that is a very valuable genealogical resource, and some of the records on my Wincanton pages also come from this source. The book itself is rare and when it becomes available is normally rather expensive. Well thanks to "The Internet Archive" this book is now available to everyone as a download in various formats. Visit the Wincanton page for more details. Also added to the Wincanton main page are links to "British History Online" which has a section on Wincanton and this also includes a link to a map of this parish. (These links will also be added to my other South East Parishes in the coming weeks)

Todays updates include two minor one's, for the Somerset Shirley's page and the Somerset Record Society publications page where a two more volumes have now sold out, they being volume's 44 and 59. The main update is to my Gwinear (Cornwall OPC Project) section where I have added more to the burial transcripts, this time covering the years from 1771 through to 1785.

05 December 2007
Have uploaded to the Mawgan in Meneage OPC section the transcriptions of the Marriage Banns which covers the years from 1754 to 1812. I have also crossed referenced this to all the marriages that I could find. At the same time was able to correct a few errors with the marriages themselves and these have also been updated on the website.

28 October 2007
Todays update are more transcriptions of Baptisms for Mawgan in Meneage, OPC, Cornwall. 1721 to 1750 have been uploaded. Also have added to this page transcriptions of the surviving BT's from 1700 up to 1750.

10 October 2007
The transcript of the Final version of the 1851 Census for Stowell in Somerset has now been uploaded to the site. Also have added the transcription of the 1841 Census for Corton Denham under the South East Somerset Section.

For members, the Annual General meeting for the Somerset Record Society is being held on Saturday the 20th October. If you have not recieved the details and would like to attend, please drop me a line and I will forward the information. If you are not a member and would like to know more about the Society then click on the link above for more information.

16 September 2007
Two smaller updates today and both to sections of the website that are rarely added to. The first is a transcript of the 1841 Census for the Union Workhouse in Sherborne, Dorset which you can find under the Blackmore Vale Section. The second is to the general Somerset Section and this is another small transcript of the 1841 Census covering Rimpton Parish. This small Parish on the Somerset/Dorset border is located to the West of Corton Denham and shares most of its Western Boundary with Marston Magna and its Southern and Eastern Boundaries with Dorset Parishes.

14 September 2007
Updates are not coming as quick as I would like at the moment as other projects are demanding more of my time. Anyway today we have transcriptions of Baptisms for Mawgan in Meneage, Cornwall. This batch covers the period from 1700 up to 1720. The next update will be another 10yrs or so of the same.

27 August 2007
Todays update to the site is the 1841 census transcription for Charlton Horethorne in Somerset.This has taken longer than I expected to complete. The next census transcription will probably be that for Cortion Denham also in Somerset.

10 August 2007
You will need to look at the blog today for the latest news as just some minor changes to the website. Next update will be over the weekend

27July2007
Horsington, Somerset - Todays update is the transcription of the 1841 Census.

08 July 2007
Have added new comments to the Blog, please do have a look and you are welcome to leave a comment if you wish to.

07 July 2007
Finally have completed and uploaded the second part of the 1841 census for Milborne Port. In the end there were only two issues that I was unable to resolve and there are notes at the bottom of the page about these. Have also uploaded an updated burials page for the Gwinear Parish in Cornwall. This is the section from 1700 up to1770. The years that were online have been rechecked and corrected where necessary as well as adding a few years in the middle that were not originally there and topped this off by adding new transcriptions from 1751 to 1770.

06 July 2007
There will be two updates coming this weekend. The first will be the second part of the 1841 census for Milborne Port, Somerset and the second will be transcriptions of burials for Gwinear, Cornwall part of my OPC efforts. More later.

23 June 2007
Two small updates today. The first is for Horsington - A list of PCC Wills held at the National Archives has been added. To the Milborne Port section has been added a transcript of the 1852 Slaters Directory. Still have not finished the second part of the Milborne Port 1841 census. Hope to have that finished this week. I have been asked why the link for the Research page is not working. This was originally removed so as to update the page. Since then other projects including my work have taken up even more of my time, so this page has been left off for now. A fuller explanation can be found on the blog.

12 June 2007
Maperton in the South East Somerset section of the website has had the main page updated and also added the transcript of the 1841 census. Also have added a transcript of the 1852 Slaters Directory to the Wincanton page. Have also included under Cury in the Meneage Area, Cornwall a short tale about an old man and a mermaid just for something a little different from what we are used to seeing on this website.

11 June 2007
Please click through to the blog for the latest news on the website, including what I am now working on. I am aware that the website was down for several hours last Friday morning (English time). My apologies, but this was beyond my control, the problem was caused by a server with my hosting company which took some time to rectify.

07 June 2007
Today's update is for Mawgan in Meneage. Have put the latest baptism transcripts online. Have got more done than I originally planned. These ones cover the period from 1642 to 1699. The blog will be updated tomorrow.

29 May 2007
Have now done it, the Blog has arrived and can be accessed from the main page. This is a bit of an experiment at this stage. If everyone makes use of it to leave their views or to make suggestions, then I will keep it going. If it is not made use of, then, eventually I will delete it. Please do not use the blog for research queries, these should be submitted through the email address on the main page of the website.

28 May 2007
One day late - Have now uploaded the new main page for Blackford in Somerset which also includes transcripts of the burials register covering the period from 1708 to 1812. These were originally provided by Richard Travell along with the marriage transcripts which have been online for awhile (See blog for more infomation- still to come in next day or two). Also uploaded to the Blackford section today is a transcript of the 1841 census.

23 May 2007
There some changes being made to the site which will hopefully make it more self supporting. Among the changes will also be the introduction of a blog which will happen during the next week. That way if you would like to leave any comments or requests then you will be able to. Today have introduced the finished Stoke Trister page in the South East Somerset section and next up during the weekend will be the Blackford page. Have also fixed the problem that was making it difficult to naviagate away from the Cucklington page.

06 April 2007
Although the site has not been updated for a couple of months as I have not had access to the internet for uploading, I have still been busy mainly transcribing census records and working on the Mawgan in Meneage part of the website, so this is a rather large update. Please allow up to 7 days for the following to be included in the onsite search engine.
1) A minor update to the Devon Shirley page.
2) Have added an old photo of the Wincanton church to that's parishes main page.
3) Mawgan in Meneage - Have done alot here. Gone through and re-checked all the burials from 1700 to 1799 as I now have some new software that has made it easier to read some of the very faded writing in the registers, so there are some corrections and additions. I have been working on the burials from the 1600's but have had to stop as again some of these pages are very hard to read and this is compounded by the old style of hand writing, but have been able to add the burials from 1671 to 1699 this time. The next update will include more burials from the 1600's and baptisms from 1678 to 1699 which I am working on now.
4) Having a look at the South East Somerset section online I realised that some parishes were missing the updated pages of the old format so I have set about updating all parishes to the new standardised format that I am now using which is based on the original Wincanton main page. The parishes done and uploaded today are Abbas/Temple Comb, Blackford, Charlton Horethorne, Corton Denham, Henstridge, Holton, Maperton, North Cheriton, with Horsington and Wincanton being modified slightly. There is just Stoke Trister to be completed and further information to be added to Henstridge once I have gone through the latest information I have.
5) Update to Stowell page with a transcript of the 1851 Census.
6 ) Have also started on transcribing other 1841 census records that I currently have access to. In addition to Cucklington and Stowell which were done a few months ago, this update includes those for Holton, North Cheriton and Part 1 of Milborne Port (covers the Hamlets/Villages of Milborne Down, Milborne Wick, Coomb Bottom, Waterloo, Kingsbury including Ven House, New Town and Brook Street in Milborne Port. The second part which I hope to have finished by the end of June will be of the street's of Milborne Port itself.

15 January 2007
Stowell, Somerset - have today added to the Stowell page, transciption of Baptisms from 1700 to 1807, a transcription of the 1841 census, List of Wills held at the National Archives, and to the main page a list of population figures in the parish at each census. Also added a link to the history of the parish.

07 January 2007
Cornwall OPC Project - Mawgan in Meneage - Burials have now been completed up to 1850. Have also checked a copy of a Book that the Parish Clerks of the time, kept, in which they mainly recorded all baptisms, burials and some Marriages. This has resulted to corrections being made to both burials & Marriages on this site. Have also added burials that do not appear in the Parish Registers themselves. Will now be switching to working on the older burials starting from 1699 and working backwards to the beginning of the Registers.

06 January 2007
Cucklington, South East Somerset - have now completed updating this page to the current format, added links for history & Rectors. Have also completed and added 1841 census transcriptions and to the front page have added new information including the available population figures from each census.

09 December 2006
Mawgan OPC project, Cornwall - Have added more Burial Transcripts from 1834 up to 1840. Have also added photos to the main page as well as a new page for even more photos which have been kindly provided by Ron Williams.
Shirley Families - A major update to the Hampshire Shirley page has now been completed, including comments a long list of baptisms, marriages and a few burials. The Somerset page has also seen a minor update to the comments section at the top. The Bristol page in light of new information has also been updated.

02 December 2006
Mawgan OPC project, Cornwall - Burial transcripts have now been completed up to 1833. This batch is from 1824 to 1833

26 November 2006
Stowell in the South East Somerset Section has been updated to the current format and details of the parish have also been added to and updated

19 November 2006
Mawgan OPC project, Cornwall - More burial transcripts have been completed - 1813 to 1823.

13 November 2006
Mawgan OPC project, Cornwall - Burial transcripts from 1800 to 1812 now completed.

03 November 2006
Mawgan OPC project, Cornwall - Marriage transcripts up to 1850 now completed
Links to the 1861 Census transcribed by the Cornwall FreeCen Project have been added to each Parish Page in the Meneage Area and also for Gwinear OPC page.

08 October 2006
Dorset section of the Shirley Families has been updated with a few more entries from various sources.
Gwinear OPC page has had a link to the 1861 census added.
Wincanton Researchers page has been added to.

01 October 2006
Somerset Record Society
Both pages have been redesigned and updated, please do have have a look by clicking here

13 March 2006
Like most webhost's I have links to external websites that maybe of interest to researchers, but I don't normally mention them here. This link, to Blackford in Somerset is significant because of the wealth of information it contains including also, information about the book that has been published which is all about this village, its history and its people, which was part of Blackford's Millennium project. Well worth a visit if your family comes from this area. The link has also been added to my Blackford page in the South East Somerset section of the site.
Horsington - Population page has been updated with the figures from the 1841 census, offsite links have been added and the Marriage Banns have now been completed to 1801 (the end of the Register which has Marriages and Banns together).

12 March 2006
Blackford, Somerset - Burial Transcripts 1708 to 1740 have been added today.
In the Somerset section have been added transcriptions of marriages and banns for Combe Hay

17 February 2006
Horsington, Somerset - Transcriptions of Marriages have now been completed up to 1801.

10 February 2006
Horsington, Somerset - Transcripts of Marriages from 1754 to 1777 have been added.

08 February 2006
Horsington, Somerset - Transcripts of Marriage Banns from 1754 to 1777 have been added. Population figures for Horsington have also been updated.

31 January 2006
Marriage Transcripts for Blackford Somerset covering the years 1692 to 1751 have been added to the site.
The Horsington section in South East Somerset is getting some attention at the moment. Have added population figures, 1897 Kellys Directory and have changed the pages around a bit as there is more on the way including marriage transcripts, marriage banns, links to relevant sites connected to Horsington, more directory transcriptions etc:

27 January 2006
St Martin in Menage - Have added transcripts of marriage banns covering the years 1860 to 1900
Have also spent some time tiding up the search function and Somerset pages on the website