Having trouble finding that elusive record?

Looking for details of an ancestor whose trail has gone cold, a place that’s missing from the modern map? Need to find a parish register or a monumental inscription?

Our volunteers have transcribed millions of records and written reams of articles that will help you in your searches

Follow this guide and you’ll soon discover if we have the tool to break down your brick wall.

Step 1: Search the Site

Don’t underestimate the power of a simple search. It’s easy to do and could provide the answer you’re looking for!

Tips: For better results use fewer words – search will automatically do partial searches – wild card characters should not be used.

No luck?

Step 2: View our Berkshire Names Index

Most people who come here are looking for an ancestor by name.

Our Baptism, Banns, Marriage and Burial Indexes contain over 1.8 million records.  The indexes contain first names, last name, year and place.  If you find the name you’re looking for, you can view the full transcription by purchasing the appropriate county-wide CD from our shop.  Alternatively, local transcripts can also be found in our Data Downloads which are available from the shop in PDF format and can be downloaded immediately after purchase

Need something else?

Step 3: Browse  the data we hold

We have a number of other databases, covering a variety of topics

If you’re looking for something else, you can skip to Step 4

Select a tab that describes what you’re looking for and we’ll point you in the right direction. 

We also have a couple of general resources that you can explore.

Berkipedia

Berkipedia is our online encyclopedia that contains a large body of useful information, most of which is also mentioned in the other tabs:

  • Places
  • Unions
  • Churches, cemeteries & more 

Go to Berkipedia

Research Guides

This is an assembly of various resources that might interest you, including links to public archives, newspapers and military records

Go to Research Guides

There are several ways to access our digital records

Berkshire FHS Parish Records

If you know the Parish in which an event occurred, you can purchase the Parish Register CD  which will contain transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials.  Go to the shop

Berkshire FHS County-wide records

But our ancestors moved around, often where there was work available, so a more reliable source might be our County-wide CDs. Go to the shop

For more details of  the CD format, see our Research Guide and to find out what might be available for a particlur location see our Churches, Cemeteries & More section

Findmypast

If you have an FMP subscription that includes UK records, Berkshire FHS has provided some digital copies to FMP. 

However, please be aware there will always be far fewer baptism, marriage and burial entries, transcribed by Berkshire Family History Society, on findmypast, than is available on the society’s CDs.
  • date limits apply online, so, for example, no baptism entries are included which are less than 100 years old.
  • some Anglican parishes, many non-conformist Churches and Chapels, and many municipal cemeteries have not yet given permission for transcripts of their records to be published online.
  • findmypast publishes only the key information fields, rather than all potential fields, so important information contained in a transcript may be excluded from the online version. 
 

There are several ways to access our digital records

Berkshire FHS Parish Records

If you know the Parish in which an event occurred, you can purchase the Parish Register CD  which will contain transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials.  Go to the shop

Berkshire FHS County-wide records

But our ancestors moved around, often where there was work available, so a more reliable source might be our County-wide CDs. Go to the shop

For more details of  the CD format, see our Research Guide and to find out what might be available for a particlur location see our Churches, Cemeteries & More section

Findmypast

If you have an FMP subscription that includes UK records, Berkshire FHS has provided some digital copies to FMP. 

However, please be aware there will always be far fewer baptism, marriage and burial entries, transcribed by Berkshire Family History Society, on findmypast, than is available on the society’s CDs.
  • date limits apply online, so, for example, no baptism entries are included which are less than 100 years old.
  • some Anglican parishes, many non-conformist Churches and Chapels, and many municipal cemeteries have not yet given permission for transcripts of their records to be published online.
  • findmypast publishes only the key information fields, rather than all potential fields, so important information contained in a transcript may be excluded from the online version. 
 

Transcripts of almost 50 burial grounds and cemeteries are available to purchase in the shop and this number is increasing all the time. 

CDs contain a plan of the cemetery so that individual graves can be located and many contain photographs of each extant monument – see product details.

Go to the shop

Our volunteers have also located, photographed and documented over 900 War Memorials around the historic county.

Get more information and view samples

There are several ways to access our digital records

Berkshire FHS Parish Records

If you know the Parish in which an event occurred, you can purchase the Parish Register CD  which will contain transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials.  Go to the shop

Berkshire FHS County-wide records

But our ancestors moved around, often where there was work available, so a more reliable source might be our County-wide CDs. Go to the shop

For more details of  the CD format, see our Research Guide and to find out what might be available for a particlur location see our Churches, Cemeteries & More section

Findmypast

If you have an FMP subscription that includes UK records, Berkshire FHS has provided some digital copies to FMP. 

However, please be aware there will always be far fewer baptism, marriage and burial entries, transcribed by Berkshire Family History Society, on findmypast, than is available on the society’s CDs.
  • date limits apply online, so, for example, no baptism entries are included which are less than 100 years old.
  • some Anglican parishes, many non-conformist Churches and Chapels, and many municipal cemeteries have not yet given permission for transcripts of their records to be published online.
  • findmypast publishes only the key information fields, rather than all potential fields, so important information contained in a transcript may be excluded from the online version. 
 
Discover the individual venues across Berkshire where your ancestor may have been baptised, married or buried and see what has been transcribed to date by Berkshire Family History Society. Also features cross-references to probate records, overseers’ papers, historic maps and Eureka publications. 
 
This section is arranged alphabetically and lists individual churches, chapels, meeting houses, missions, burial grounds, cemeteries, crematoria, workhouses, gaols and lunatic asylums. 
 
Original parish registers for the historic county of Berkshire are usually held at the Royal Berkshire Archives, whilst transcripts of Bishops Transcripts for Berkshire are usually held at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre LINK. There are some exceptions to this and this is usually noted in the comments section at the bottom of each page

 

Go to Churches, Cemeteries & more

This section of Berkipedia includes descriptions and images of many of the villages and towns of historic Berkshire, from Aldermaston to Yattendon.

Go to Berkipedia > Places

This section of Berkipedia includes maps of the Poor Law Unions of Historic Berkshire, cross reffernces to the parishes and workhouses that appear on the Society CDs

Go to Berkipedia > Unions

 

We have over 5,000 microfiches containing records from all over the UK.

Check out the catalogue here

Society volunteers have transcribed many other useful sources for family historians. These include:

  • poll books
  • trade directories
  • early census
  • probate records
  • miscellaneous other listings.

Society members, when signed in, can view some of these miscellaneous other listings for free in the Berkshire Data section (under the Info menu.)

More datasets are available to purchase on CD via the shop.  Search the catalogue to see the range of data which may be of interest for your own research.

Go to Shop

Need more help?  Go to step 4

Step 4: Options

Choose the option that suits you best

Independent researcher

We can supply a list of independent researchers. You negotiate and pay directly. We take no part and have no responsibility for the work or the researcher

And if none of that works …

Step 5: Send us a message

If you’ve tried all the suggestions and still need help, use the Get in touch button below to tell us what you are looking for and we’ll try to help you.