Research

The Local History Centre is the place to come if you’re interested in researching local history.

Entry to the Local History Centre is free and our volunteers can assist you in your research.

The Local History Centre is at:

The Grove, Rax Lane, Bridport. DT6 3JL

It houses the Museum’s local history collection of documents and photographs.  We can also access many online resources.

The Centre is open to anyone who wishes to research local or family history.

We operate a drop-in service on Mondays (excluding bank holidays) 10am – 1pm, no booking required.

Wednesdays are by appointment only.

Please email office@bridportmuseum.co.uk or call 01308 458703 to book an appointment.

A volunteer will be available to help you with your enquiries.  Our space is very limited, and only one visitor or family group can be accommodated at each appointment.

Although there is no charge for use of the Centre for research, we really welcome donations to help us keep this valuable facility available and open to the public.

We have now acquired the Bridport News archive on 35mm film, which was originally in Bridport Library.

This resource contains, with a very few gaps, images of the Bridport News from its first edition in 1855 to 2010.

Being on microfilm, it is not searchable by name or topic.

Appointments can be made on a Monday for anyone who just wishes to use the microfilm reader.

A small sample of our Local History Centre resources:

  • maps and plans – Ordnance Survey maps, tithe maps with apportionments, town plans
  • parish records – births, deaths and marriages, cemetery records, monumental inscriptions
  • access to Ancestry
  • photographs – copies of the Museum’s large collection are available to view and order (depending on copyright).  Many are also available on the Museum’s Flickr site
  • Trade Directories – Kelly’s, Pigot’s, Hunt’s (1792-1939)
  • library – books on the local area, families and industries
  • Bridport Harbour (West Bay) shipbuilding and ship movements
  • donated family histories and research
  • local rope and net industry documents
Make a booking
Contact us
01308 458703
office@bridportmuseum.co.uk
Local History Centre, The Grove, Rax Lane, Bridport, DT6 3JL

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Local History Centre

Areas we cover

Allington, Askerswell, Bettiscombe, Bothenhampton, Bradpole, Bridport, Broadoak, Burton Bradstock, Charmouth, Chideock, Chilcombe, Dottery, Little Bredy, Litton Cheney, Loders, Long Bredy, Marshwood, Monkton Wyld, Morcombelake, Netherbury, North Poorton, Pilsdon, Powerstock, Puncknowle, Salway Ash, Shipton Gorge, Stanton St Gabriel, Stoke Abbot, Swyre, Symondsbury, Walditch, Whitchurch Canonicorum, Wootton Fitzpaine.

Explore photos

Here are some suggestions for online resources that may help you with your own research, locally or over a wider area:

  • Dorset History Centre – the archives service and local studies library for Dorset. Here you can find Dorset’s local archives, from council records to personal collections, including sources for Bridport and the surrounding area.  Search the online catalogue or email your enquiry to them.
  • Dorset OPC (Online Parish Clerks) – contains local records organised by parish. Other counties have similar services.
  • Dorset County Council Historic Towns Survey
  •  Ancestry: search for people, census, parish registers, maps and more. This is a subscription service, although it is often available through your local library.
  • Find my past: an alternative to Ancestry. (subscription service)
  • Family Search: (free)
  • The Genealogist:  (subscription service)
  • Cyndi’s list: A comprehensive, categorised and cross-referenced list of links that help you find genealogical research sites.
  • The National Archives:  Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country. Over 9 million records are available for download.
  • The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913: “A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.”
  • Freereg, freebmd and freecen: “Our objective is to provide free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records, that have been transcribed from parish and non-conformist registers of the U.K. FreeREG is a companion project to FreeBMD (a database of the GRO birth, marriage and death indexes from 1837) and FreeCEN (a database of census information).”  Check the site to see what is available.  It is useful for cross-checking, growing coverage and accurate transcriptions.
  • The General Register Office “holds a central copy of all registrations for England and Wales. Local Register Offices also hold records of events registered in their area.”  For ordering copies of births, marriages & deaths, this can be done online at a current cost of £7 for a PDF copy of an old certificate.
  • GENUKI “provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland. It is a non-commercial service, maintained by a charitable trust and a group of volunteers.”
  • Society of Genealogists: London based society with some online resources for members.  (Subscription)
  • Connected Histories “brings together a range of digital resources related to early modern and nineteenth century Britain with a single federated search that allows sophisticated searching of names, places and dates, as well as the ability to save, connect and share resources within a personal workspace.”
  • British History Online “is a digital library of key printed primary and secondary sources for the history of Britain and Ireland, with a primary focus on the period between 1300 and 1800. We aim to support the learning, teaching and research of our users from around the world.”
  • The British Newspaper Archive “is a partnership between the British Library and findmypast to digitise up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library’s vast collection over the next 10 years.” (Subscription site).
  • Trade directories, part of the University of Leicester’s Special Collections Online, covering England and Wales from the 1760s to the 1910s.  “ free access to a series of digital resources from the David Wilson Library, including My Leicestershire History, Manufacturing Pasts, Historical Directories and other material from our collections of rare books and archives.”
  • A Vision of Britain through Time “brings together historical surveys of Britain to create a record of how the country and its localities have changed. Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.”
  • Deceased online: “The central database for UK burials and cremations”
  • weather-in-the-past:  discussion board
  • MeasuringWorth is a service for calculating relative worth over time
  • Current Value of Old Money: a useful collection of websites.
  • The Local Historian, published by the British Association for Local History
  • History of the NHS.
  • National Archives of Ireland: “Our holdings relate to all parts of Ireland and have enormous research potential as they provide essential primary source material for people seeking to understand the political, economic and social forces which have shaped our nation. The records also permit the study of Government policy and encourage greater use of our archival heritage by the general public.”