1. Choose a Life event:
Choose which “life event” (Baptism, Marriage or Burial) you would like to search.
2. Choose a Parish:
This menu lists all the parishes that have a searchable index for the event you have chosen; you can choose to search a single parish, or you can select ”all parishes” to search them all.
3. Searching:
Choose a search category from the Search Within menu; the default is set to surname but you can change this to suit your search – the available search categories vary by register type. Having selected a search category, enter the term you want to look for in the Search For box.
Choose an optional, second search category from the Also Search Within menu; the default is set to forename. Then enter your search term in the second Search For box.
Having entered your search terms, click the search (“Search”) button. The total number of results will be given next to the new search (“New Search”) button - each result represents an entry in the register. The results themselves appear below the search boxes, listed ten to a page - you can move between pages by clicking on a page number, shown at the bottom of the results screen.
4. Viewing Register Images:
Where digital images exist for a register entry, View Register will appear in the far right column of the search results; click on this link to see images of the original register.
A new window opens showing each page of the register in which your entry appears. You can then navigate around the register until you find the relevant entry, using the mouse wheel to zoom in or out, and holding the left mouse button down to drag images around the screen. You can also use the icons in the top-left to move from page to page of the register.
Saving:
Having located the entry in the register you’re looking for, you can choose to save the relevant page. Click on the image with the mouse pointer and then on the save icon that appear on the left of the screen. This will open another window in which you are requested to accept the terms of use for the image; if you accept, click Open Image and a PDF image of the register page will open which you can then save to a USB memory stick.
5. Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Some of our registers have not yet been indexed, which means they aren’t searchable. However, we do have images of our unindexed registers which can be browsed. To do this, select an entry from the ”Browse registers still to be indexed” list. A new window will open showing each page of the register which can then be browsed, printed or saved as described above.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for please ask a member of staff for assistance.
