Local Studies,Central Library,Le Mans Crescent,BOLTON BL1 ISETel: 01204 332185 Fax: 01204 363224
Formed by a merger of the Public Record Office and the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, The National Archives (TNA) is the principal repository for English and Welsh records. You might like to start by browsing the titles of their 193 guides classified under 'family history'. TNA offer many, many useful Research Guides.
The National Archives (TNA)'s Discovery system is now the key to finding their holdings - see also: TNA Discovery Help.
TNA's Access to Archives (A2A) programme has been absorbed into Discovery (above).
The National Register of Archives has now been absorbed into Discovery (above). It is/was an extensive searchable database (formerly run by the Royal Commision on Historical Manuscripts, now part of TNA) which contains information on the nature and location of manuscripts and historical records that relate to British history.
Your Archives — NB this is now closed but remains available as a read-only resource — "The National Archives' online community of records users", a wiki that archive users can contribute to: "These pages are for you to contribute your knowledge of archival sources held by The National Archives and by other archives throughout the UK."
The National Archives (TNA, Kew) have a worldwide list of archives. This links into the UK section.
The L.D.S. (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) have now provided online search facilities for the I.G.I. (International Genealogical Index). As well as the general search facility, there is also a Custom Search page allowing more refined searches. Hugh Wallis has provided a search facility which greatly simplifies searching by batch number. See also Finding L.D.S. Batch Numbers.
The FamilySearch site has a list of Family History Centres in England. These are provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In particular, the London Family History Centre has a useful web site.
The Guildhall Library, London.
Bevan, Amanda, (Ed.). Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office (6th ed.), The National Archives. [ISBN 1903365341] ["This is a new, revised edition of the best-selling guide. Now in its sixth edition, Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office continues to provide comprehensive guidance to all researchers, new or experienced, wishing to trace their forebears among the records of government or courts held at The National Archives. It leads the reader through the census and military service records, wills and lawsuits, court rolls and hearth taxes and all other records where our ancestors may have left their tracks. . . this new revised edition provides information on this and many other releases of records at the National Archives, including army, navy, merchant navy and immigration records. New information about how to access the records via the catalogue is also provided."]