Come to a complete end?

[Vasquez109]

Just wondering how others approach their research. Once we go pre-1837 and rely on parish records, some parishes especially near me start in the 1700s. A long way off the fabled 1500s.

Would just like to know, once you reach the starting point of the registers. In my case 1770 for Dulas, Herefordshire, 1721 for Ystradgynlais in Glamorganshire and 1734 for Withel Florey in Somerset. Is that then a complete end? Are there any avenues that researchers with more experience than myself could go down?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

[coombs]

You could see if Bishops Transcripts or Archdeacons Transcripts survive, but they can also be patchy.

Also wills, apprenticeship records, poor law records, newspapers (although most online newspapers are from about 1800 onwards). Rate books etc.

Many of our ancestors were not rich enough to leave a will but not poor enough to come under the poor law authorities, which can provide a wealth of info.

[Ayashi]

That's about where all of mine end, as well. In my case I tend to find that even if the records exist, and even if they existed back to 15th, they lack information to differentiate between people and all of my ancestors were common as muck. If there are five different John BROWNs with no occupation or age, bonus points if they all married women of the same forename, I am unlikely to know which one is mine.

[goldie61]

I always find wills one of the biggest areas to try and find previous generations.
It wasn't only rich people who left wills. I have many wills from not very well off tenant farmers.

You may also find your ancestors mentioned in the local Manor Court rolls taken by the lord or lady of the manor.
The National Archives have a page to look up where records may be held. The Manorial Documents Register.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/manor-search

If they leased land, look for the records of whoever the landlords were. For example, I have lots in Derbyshire, so many of my ancestors are mentioned in the records at Chatsworth House as being under the Duke of Devonshire.

Then there's any number of Taxes that were raised at one time or another: Land Tax; The Hearth Tax; Muster Rolls...............
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/taxation-before-1689/
I even found a Census-like book for Staffordshire from 1532.

You will not find a lot of this sort of information easily accessible on-line, apart from wills, which if you're lucky will be.
It takes a lot of digging and no doubt visits to any number of depositories at Record Offices; libraries; universities (who seem to hold lots of records in their special collections libraries); private archives etc etc.
The Manorial Documents register above gives you where any pertinent records are held.

And don't forget The National Archives Discovery page itself.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
This covers millions of records. Try your ancestors' names.
And digging around on there often throws up things of interest, if your actual ancestors' names don't appear. For example, TNA might hold something general  about the village of Dulas, but it's not until you've looked at the actual document that you can find the names mentioned in it.
I see there are 44 hits for Withiel Florey between 1600 and 1699 - at a very quick glance, a lot of them are manor court records.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_p=1600&_q=withiel+florey
Held at Somerset Heritage Centre Taunton.

You're right though Ayashi, if you have several generations with the same name, it's can be tricky to differentiate between them.

[Guy Etchells]

Just wondering how others approach their research. Once we go pre-1837 and rely on parish records, some parishes especially near me start in the 1700s. A long way off the fabled 1500s.
Would just like to know, once you reach the starting point of the registers. In my case 1770 for Dulas, Herefordshire, 1721 for Ystradgynlais in Glamorganshire and 1734 for Withel Florey in Somerset. Is that then a complete end? Are there any avenues that researchers with more experience than myself could go down?
Any advice greatly appreciated!

First thing I would suggest is to research the history of the parish concerned for example you mentioned Dulas, Herefordshire prior to 1770 it was part of Ewyas Harold (Ewias Harold, Euryas Harold) from 1734. Many parishes stem from a larger parish which has been divided as the population grew or became more affluent.
Another source is via a quick search on familysearch which reveals: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Withiel_Florey,_Somerset_Genealogy
Withel Florey registers start in the 1500s rather than 1734. It may be that the earliest registers are not online and you need to go the Dioceses Archives to access them.
In a few cases you may have to rely on transcripts of the registers for a while until you find other supporting records, never ignore any resource no matter how unreliable it may be, that source could be the clue you need to find other reliable records. If you do rely on unreliable sources add a note to remind yourself that the source is doubtful or a transcript.
I would also suggest tax records, manor court records and the other types of records that charge people for living (or misbehaving), these will not record families but give a clue to location of the family, which in turn leads to other sources.
The main thing I have learnt in my research which began in the 1950s is never give up, inaccessible records are being released, or becoming more accessible in most years, whether these are withheld public records or inaccessible private records, if an ancestor lived some person will have made a record of that. Never give up learn to think out of the box and not to be regimented in your research.
Cheers
Guy

[andrewalston]

Many parishes stem from a larger parish which has been divided as the population grew or became more affluent.

Often a church had outlying chapels, providing baptisms and burials. These were usually recorded in the main registers, sometimes with an indication of the place but often not. Marriages were almost always at the "mother church", which would involve our ancestors in long walks. Often these chapels would later be given full parish status.

Sometimes the mother church is not adjacent. In my part of the world Blackrod was officially a chapel-of-ease for Bolton parish. To get from one to the other you need to pass through the parish of Deane.

Chorley (now a large town) was originally part of Croston (still a large village), with Eccleston (another large village) to be passed through.

[martin hooper]

I think the main point is that you won't get information about many of your early ancestors. You need to keep plugging away and enjoy the little nuggets that you do find.

Martin

[coombs]

Some lines I have managed to trace back a long way, I found a gateway ancestor but outside that, in regards to the 1500s I have only traced about 5% of ancestors. And 3 of them were merchants of Kings Lynn, Orford and Colchester. The Colchester one wed in 1550 to a woman originally from Algarkirk, Lincolnshire. Wills have helped immensely.

[teragram31510]

You've already got a load of good advice here especially from goldie61 and Guy Etchells  who have already said what I would have said.

I've found the National Archives particularly useful. Having discovered that an ancestor in the early 1700s was selling land in a particular village about 30 km from where he lived I wondered how he'd acquired it. Put in the surname in TNA's Discovery search page and up came loads of references to documents - deeds, legal disputes etc - associating the surname, various individuals - including information stating "son/wife/daughter of"  - and the villages. Then a couple of wills I bought from TNA from the mid 1500s, early 1600s, and lots of family relationships fell into place, with bequests concerning the land in question, passed from father to son (without issue) and on to nephew and his son. I didn't need to actually read the full deeds or legal stuff: the NA's "description" of plaintiffs and defendants and what they were haggling about was enough. Got me back to about 1525 with a fair amount of certainty!

Just waiting for the same sort of stuff to become available somewhere for a couple of other lines I'm researching.

Don't give up!