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In the hierarchical structure of archives, county record offices (CROs) are the next port of call. As the title suggests, a county record office is a central repository for administrative documents relating to the county, and each county has at least one. (Some have more than one, like Devon, which has three; the Devon Record Office in Exeter, the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple and the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office in Plymouth.)

In general, most CROs hold census returns, rate books, electoral registers, trade directories, photos and prints, local government documents, maps, parish registers, civil registration indexes, private company and family papers and local history books for every place within the county (rather than just a few towns and villages covered by a local studies centre). In some cases a CRO will store duplicate copies of material held by local study centres, but in other areas the two types of repository will hold completely different sets of records on any given place within that county. It is always worth visiting the local studies centre and the CRO for the area in which you are researching, because there is bound to be at least something extra you will find in the CRO.

Of particular importance are the records deposited by locally important families, who historically would have owned much of the land within the county and therefore played an important part in your ancestors’ lives. Their estate records, rent books, employment accounts, correspondence and records as local justices of the peace will contain thousands of names, many of which may be relevant to you and your search. However, it’s worth remembering that especially wealthy families owned land in more than one county – so if you can’t find what you are looking for in one CRO, it might be worth checking to see if important family papers for principal landowners are deposited elsewhere, possibly in another county where they had their main residence.

If your ancestors lived on the border of a county you should investigate whether the county borders have changed at any time. For example, Bredon’s Hardwick, now in Gloucestershire, was for many centuries described as being in Worcestershire. As a result, some records for people who have lived in Bredon’s Hardwick are located in Worcestershire Record Office, while other records are held in the Gloucestershire Archives. Equally, if your ancestors lived on the border of one or more counties they may have moved around and spent time living on both sides of the boundary at various times, in which case there is probably material about them to be found in the record offices for both those counties.