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Once you have looked at the church, turn to the written sources.

Start with secondary sources - eg. church guidebook, parish history, article on the internet, Victoria County History, The Pevsner Architectural Guides, local history books. Secondary sources are accounts of the past created by people writing about events some time after they happened. Your local studies library or record office will be able to help you by suggesting secondary sources for your particular area. A few secondary sources are online, such as the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland.

After looking at secondary sources, you might want to look for more detail. Look at the primary sources; again the local record office will be able to help. Primary sources are actual records which have survived from the past created as events were happening.

Relevant primary sources may include Bishops' registers, wills, medieval charters, chronicles, parish magazines, faculty applications, visitation records, court records, surveys/diaries, Church Commissioners files, Incorporated Church Building Society files, topographical drawings/paintings. Very few of these are likely to be available online - apart from the plans and drawings in the ICBS.

Why not try a search for your local church in the ICBS files?

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Research Guide Table of Contents

Researching the history of your church
Start by looking at the church
Find out more
A few examples from the ICBS