Tracing Welsh roots

Births, marriages and deaths

Wales shares its civil registration with England: the General Register Office holds registrations for England and Wales from July 1837, and earlier events are found in parish records. ^[1] Searching the GRO's historical indexes online is free once you register an account. ^[2] See our England guide for how certificates work.

The National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales is in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion (SY23 3BU). Its website has family history help, a page on access to the 1921 Census and a reader's ticket page for visitors. ^[3] Its archives and manuscripts catalogue was unavailable outside the library building when we checked. ^[3]

• Welsh Newspapers: search about 15 million articles from 1804 to 1919. ^[4]
• Places of Wales: over 300,000 tithe map entries and their apportionments, with original and present-day maps, useful for finding a farm or plot by name. ^[5]

Local archive services

Parish registers, school records and local papers are usually in the county or borough archive. Archives Wales, run by the Archives and Records Council Wales, lists every member archive service with a map to find the nearest. ^[6] Check each service's own page for opening days and whether you need to book.

Places to add to the trip

• St Fagans National Museum of History: free open-air museum of Welsh life with historic buildings, on the edge of Cardiff. See Cardiff: things to do.
• National Museum Cardiff: free museum and art gallery. See Cardiff: things to do.
• Cardiff Castle and the rest of the capital: see our Wales guide.

For the Welsh language you will see on signs and in place names, see our Welsh language guide.

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