Wiltshire

Wills at Salisbury, 1464-1858

British Record Society Volumes 122 & 123

Published 2009

Read the Original Introduction from BRS Volumes 122 & 123.

Locating the original documents

Where are the originals held?

The original wills are held at Wiltshire and Swindon Archives. This British Record Society (BRS) index was produced as part of the Wiltshire Wills Project, being a collaboration between Wiltshire and Swindon Archives and the BRS.

Wiltshire and Swindon Archives are now making available copies of all of these wills to purchase online but please note that this is an ongoing process so not all of the wills are yet available online. The reference provided here is the same full reference as required by the Archives to locate an image in the online catalogue. Where an image is not yet available online please contact Wiltshire and Swindon Archives by e-mail, phone, fax or letter complete with full details including references.

What information from the document do I need to locate the original?

• Testator's name
• Abode
• Year
• References

About the index

This is index to the various courts of the Diocese of Salisbury.

The main courts were:

• Bishop's Consistory Court
• The two Archdeaconry courts (the Archdeaconry of Wiltshire in the north; the Archdeaconry of Sarum in the south of the county)
• The Sub-Dean's Court covering Salisbury and Stratford sub Castle, and the Dean's Court.
• Additionally, there were several small jurisdictions covering either a single parish or group of parishes, attached to various lay or clerical dignitaries.

As a result, there are records for 29 different jurisdictions at Wiltshire and Swindon Archives, covering the whole of Wiltshire, parts of Dorset, Hampshire and Berkshire and the Devon parish of Uffculme.

What does the index include?

All names and places appearing in the will plus incidental information such as occupation where found in the original documents are included in the index.

Names are arranged alphabetically. This means some name variants may not appear clustered together. Names in the index are according to the spelling used in the documents, usually based on the signaturee of the testator.

Dates of pre 1752 wills are given in 'Old Style' or Julian Calendar.

Abbreviations in the index