Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)

England Herefordshire  Herefordshire Probate Records, Worcestershire Probate Records

Step By Step
1. First search each index (see below) to help you more quickly find the will or administration (admon), writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry. 2. Proceed to the "Probate Records of This Court" (below) to determine what original probate records exist for this court. 3. Contact or visit the Herefordshire 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. 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.

Online Indexes
Here are some indexes to this courts' wills online.

Printed Indexes
Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, Series 5,vol. 4 Index to Wills Proved in the Court of the Bishop of Hereford 1444-1578

Index to wills proved in the Bishop's Court of Hereford 1442-1579, by Stephen J. Kelsey

Index to wills proved in the Bishop's Court of Hereford Before the Commonwealth Period 1601-1656 by Stephen J. Kelsey

Indexes in The Family History Library
The original and microfilmed records include indexes. The Family History Library has film copies of the following indexes:


 * Probate indexes and abstracts, 1662-1858
 * Episcopal Consistory Court of the Bishop of Hereford - Calendar of wills, 1700-1802
 * Indexes to Original Wills &amp; Administrations
 * Index to wills and inventories 1517-1663
 * Index to wills proved in the Bishop's Court of Hereford 1442-1579; also in FHL book
 * Index to wills proved in the Bishop's Court of Hereford Before the Commonwealth Period 1601-1656; also in FHL book

Probate Records of This Court Held in This Archive
The original records are deposited at the Herefordshire Archives in Hereford.

Archive Records
They include:


 * Original wills, administrations, and inventories, 1520-1539 (with a few earlier), 1540-1858
 * Register copy wills, 1663-1858
 * Various act books, 1445-1835, 1587-1686, 1662/3-1858
 * Tuition bonds, 1673-1792

Family History Library Records
Records have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and through the many family history centers world-wide. They include:


 * Original Wills 1442-1836


 * Registered Wills 1633-1858


 * Administrations &amp; Inventories 1662-1735/6


 * Act Books 1587-1858


 * Acts of Office 1407-1831 consist of all acts by the archdeacon. They are not all probate records.

Jurisdiction
This court had jurisdiction over Herefordshire expect the following:


 * Eight parishes in the Court of the Archdeaconry of Brecon
 * The city of Hereford and twenty-five parishes in the jurisdiction of the Consistory Court of the Dean of Hereford
 * And the peculiar prebends of Little Hereford, Upper Bullinghope or Upper Bullingham, andMoreton Magna or Moreton-upon-Lugg.

Before 1541, when the Diocese of Gloucester was formed, the western portion of Gloucestershire beyond the rivers Severn and Leaden was in the Diocese of Hereford, and there are consequently a few Gloucestershire wills in this court prior to 1541.

This court also had jurisdiction over these parishes in Worcestershire: