When thinking about undertaking archival research, it can be easy to reach automatically for the big national institutions. But there is more to life than the British Library or The National Archives; sometimes, history can be a little closer to home. Tucked away on the other side of Reading to our University is the Berkshire Record Office. This small, welcoming archive holds the records of Berkshire county, and – like other local record offices – provides a vital insight into the experiences of those who have lived here throughout history.

              County archives contain a variety of record types, ranging from wills (probate) and local court records to maps and electoral registers. All of these show different snapshots of life in Berkshire, as it developed from a rural county (albeit one straddling several key trade routes), to a site of aspirational country residences for a rising mercantile elite, into the busy, diverse hub of commuters and industry that it is today.

              However, much of my own personal experience at BRO has involved the parish registers – arguably the most comprehensive resource for historic life in any county. A parish’s registers capture the lives of its residents at three key (Christian) milestones in their lives – baptism, marriage, and burial. These records are (with a few exceptions) in English, sorted by parish then by date range. Later records are also sorted into different register books per ceremony – one for baptism, one for burial, and so on. Each record notes the date of ceremony, the parishioners name, and – sometimes – a few exciting additional details. In fact, BRO is currently undertaking a project in partnership with the University to read the parish registers ‘against the grain’, and uncover the county’s long history of diversity. You can read more about that effort in this blog post for many-headed monster.

Many of the parish registers are transcribed, thanks to volunteer efforts, but – and perhaps it is my inner romantic speaking – there is always something to be said for calling up the records yourself and handling the real item. Leafing through a parish church’s register allows you to catch glimpses of the communities who once lived here. You can trace their lives from baptism to burial, through joy and tragedy. You’ll find many a researcher in BRO’s peaceful reading room doing the same, perhaps uncovering their family history or adding to Berkshire’s knowledge of local history.

If you’re particularly lucky, you may find something strange and wonderful. Fig. 1 shows a page from Winkfield parish register D/P49/1/2. On this page from 1698, someone – perhaps the incumbent member of clergy who filled out the register – has carefully sketched the tower of a church. Interestingly, its profile does not match the parish church of Winkfield St Mary. Perhaps the building held some personal significance to the artist.

Like all archives, BRO is full of such hidden gems, but local records – typically not digitised, and not necessarily furnished with easily searchable online catalogues – can sometimes appear intimidating to the uninitiated. As an ‘official’ archive, BRO’s records do come with some of the expected elements of structural occlusion, the archival ‘silences’, one might expect – but there is also a level of detail here that cannot always be found at the bigger, centralised archives. There is also a genuine willingness from BRO to work as part of the local community. BRO’s staff are welcoming experts in their respective fields, and are always willing to help – not to mention keen to hear insights discovered in course of your research. Further, they are typically on the lookout for more volunteers – and working within such a small archive can give you the rare opportunity to see the whole of the institution, from the repository to the reading room.

So, I urge you – take the short trip across town this summer and peruse the parish records. You won’t regret it.

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Graham Moore is a CDP-funded PhD student at the University of Reading and The National Archives, specialising in early modern Maritime History.

All comments and opinions presented in this article are that of the author.

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