Wills held by Wiltshire and Swindon Archive

[ceb83]

Hi there,

Can anyone explain why Wiltshire and Swindon Archive hold wills and other documents relating to people who lived out of the area??


For example, W&SA, hold an Inventory, tuition bond, will from 1590 of William Bullock, Gentleman of Arborfield........Inventory from 1596 of Thomas Bullock, Esquire, Arborfield........Administration bond, inventory, will of 1606 of Gilbert Bullock, Gentleman of Arborfield.
 

Arborfield is a few miles to the south of Reading in Berkshire.

Cheers,

Carol

 

[Little Nell]

Hi Carol,

This is because Arborfield was in the Archdeaconry of Berkshire, part of the diocese of Salisbury (which of course is in Wiltshire).  The Wiltshire and Swindon Archives is the diocesan record office for Salisbury, hence all wills proved in the diocese are held at the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives.

Nell

[behindthefrogs]

In fact if you go back to before 1845 Arborfield along with a few other parishes in the middle of Berkshire, including half of Wokingham were actually in Wiltshire.  However  ecclesiastically they moved with the rest of the archdeaconry of Berkshire from the diocese of Salisbury to the diocese of Oxford in 1836.

Wills are usually deposited in the record office associated with the diocese in which they were proved.  Thus those for Arborfield (which do not include property in other dioceses) will be in the Wilts Record Office until 1836 when they will be in the Oxfordshire RO.  However for other non-church related Arborfield records you may need to look in Wiltshire or Berkshire Record Offices.

David

[roofy]

Hi,
I thought you might find this useful as well. I enquired about the will of an ancestor who lived in Bristol and owned property. They couldnt find it in their records. This is what they told me, and I quote from BRO
"Any people who held property etc within more than one diocese would have to have their will proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) and copies of PCC wills can be obtained via the National Archives, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/wills.asp"

Hope this helps about the diocese thing:)
Roofy

[Redroger]

There are also some Dorset Wills held at Wiltshire archive, Haydon parish in particular; also some of the Somerset records are held in the Hampshire archive at Winchester, due yet again, to the parishes concerned being within the Winchester diocese.