Court of the Peculiar of Hursley with Otterbourne, Merdon and Silkstead

Return to the Hampshire Probate Records page.

Step By Step
1. First search each index (see below) to help you more quickly find the will, writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry. 2. Proceed to the "Probate Records Held in This Archive" (below) to determine what original probate records exist for this court. 3. Contact or visit the Essex County Record Office or, hire a professional record searcher to view these records on your behalf. Officials may send upon request a list of record searchers. 4. You can visit The Family History Library, or, one of its 4,500 satellite family history centers worldwide and search indexes to probate records; then with the information obtained from the index[es] you can search more quickly the original wills and admons also on microfilm via any centers near you.

Location of These Probate Records
Hampshire Record Office Archives and Local Studies Sussex Street Winchester Hampshire SO23 8TH tel 01962 846154, fax 01962 878681 Contact the Archives and Local Studies

Website

Opening times: Monday to Friday, 9am-7pm Saturday, 9am-4pm

Historical Background
The Court of the Peculiar of Hursley with Otterbourne, Merdon and Silkstead held jurisdiction over the parishes of Hursley and Otterbourne, and the places of Merdon and Silkstead. These records are held at the Hampshire Record Office (see above). When a search of this courts’ probate records fails to provide the desired probate record, be sure to search both the Consistory (administrations and wills) Archdeaconry (wills only) Courts of Winchester as well as the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

You can also visit The Family History Library, or, one of its 4,500 satellite family history centers worldwide and search indexes (see the Family History Library's cataloged entries providing the microfilms so you can have them circulated to the center near you for searching the wills). The information obtained from the index[es] will help you more quickly search the wills and admons which can also be circulated on microfilm via any family history.

Probate Indexes
Surviving wills and admons to the Court of the Peculiar of Hursley with Otterbourne, Merdon and Silkstead have been mostly indexed as follows:

Online Indexes
Here is an online index from 1500's-1857. This is a mostly complete listing of wills for this time period, and can be very helpful to those searching Hampshire probate records.

Original Handwritten Indexes
There is an index (manuscript) from 1566 to 1705 (only 11 wills survive) for Hursley with Otterbourne, Merdon and Silkstead held at the Hampshire Record Office.

Microfilmed Indexes at the Family History Library&lt;br&gt;
The indexes as listed in the above are also available in the collection of The Family History Library and they are on microfilm and may be circulated to each of its satellite Family History Centers worldwide.

The Family History Library has a microfilmed index (index Cards) to the probate records which pertains to each of Hampshire's peculiar probate courts--including Hursley with Otterbourne, Merdon and Silkstead for the years 1566 to 1705.

The Hampshire Record Office also has a type manuscript index covering the early Hursley with Otterbourne, Merdon and Silkstead wills; see the next section below.

== Searching for probates in this court ==

ORIGINAL WILLS 1566-1705

Strategies, Tips, Other?
See the above Indexes or those available through the Family History Library or its many family history centers worldwide for an index to this court.

The administrations (admons) for this "peculiar" probate court were processed and granted only through the Consistory Court of Winchester.

To view a list of parishes and their respective probate court jurisdiction, see the "Hampshire Parishes and Their Probate Jurisdictions" on the main page for Hampshire Probate Records.

[England: Hampshire]