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Enquiry and Research Services | ||
| Enquiry service | | |
You are welcome to contact us with any enquiries you have regarding our records. Warwickshire County Record Office aims to offer assistance with your research. We endeavour to deal with enquiries in the order that they are received as far as possible. We therefore regret that we cannot answer detailed enquiries by telephone and would request that you put your enquiry in writing, either by post or email. Enquiries about the nature of our holdings or information that can be obtained quickly by checking indexes or catalogues can be provided free of charge. Enquiries that involve looking at documents to provide an answer are subject to a fee. If you require one look up we can process your enquiry through our Limited Enquiry Service. If your research request is more involved then it can be dealt with through our Research Service or through using the list of Private Researchers. Limited Enquiry service We will search for one item only, this may include the following: · an entry in a parish register · an entry in an electoral register (excluding previous 10 years) · a burial slip · a memorial inscription · an entry from a website such as ancestry or FMP · a name in a deed · a specific report in a newspaper · an entry in a vehicle license register · an entry in a trade directory In all cases you must supply specific information to guide the search, names, places, dates, reference numbers as appropriate. If you have none of these then you will need to use the full research service. The cost for this service is £7.50p by cheque (payable to Warwickshire County Council) or £10.00 by credit card to incorporate the additional administration costs. The price will include the cost of a copy where this is applicable ie a reader printer copy from a parish register or a document that can be photocopied. It would not include the cost of scanning or digital photography (see reprographics charges). Some items will also require you to complete a Data Protection form prior to release of the information, a copy of this is available to download on our website here: Warwickshire County Record Office - Data Protection form Some items cannot be searched in this way for example more recent or sensitive records may have issues relating to Freedom of Information or Data Protection. If this is the case you will be advised accordingly. There will be no refund where a search has proved unsuccessful as you are paying for the staff time to undertake the search. If you wish to make an application for research under the Limited Enquiry service please complete a Limited Enquiry Service application form If you are looking for particular documents or collections, you may find the information you require by using either Warwickshire's Past Unlocked or the Access to Archives website. | ||
| Research Service | | |
Paid Research Service Warwickshire County Record Office offers a Paid Research Service for those enquirers unable to visit the office in person. Our researcher has over 10 years' experience of providing a comprehensive research service at Warwickshire County Record Office and has an in-depth knowledge of its holdings. He is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA). His work is overseen by one of our professionally qualified archivists. The charge for the Paid Research Service is £25 per hour or part thereof. We will initially accept payment for one hour of research only. Should we be unable to complete your enquiry within the hour paid for we will accept subsequent applications for the same search in portions of 2 hours at any one time. This allows us to fairly apportion the time of the researcher amongst all of the various applications that we may receive at any given time.
What we need from you We are able to carry out research into many of the records held at the County Record Office. As part of your initial enquiry it is important that you state clearly what records you would like us to search for you and what you hope to find out. It is also important to include any information that you already have which might help us in our search. We will advise you on which records may be worth searching for the information required and how long this is likely to take. In a minority of cases we will need proof of your identity (for instance if you are asking us to release information which is unavailable for general access). If this is the case, we will advise you of what information we need. We cannot, of course, guarantee that in every case the answer will be found.
What is included in the £25 fee We will complete as much of the research as time allows and if we do not complete the search we will advise you, where possible, how much more time we will need to complete the enquiry. Once the enquiry is completed we may be able to suggest further lines of research, and will continue if there is enough time. If not, we will advise you on the records we think still need to be searched and, where possible, how long it will take. We will send you a written report which will confirm which records we have searched, and what information we have found. The £25 fee also includes the cost of limited copies.
If you have made a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, or have contacted us about information which may be held in records which are unavailable for general access, we may refer you to our Paid Research Service in order for us to establish whether or not we have information which is relevant to your enquiry. If we do find relevant information, we may have to consult with a third party before we can determine whether or not the information can be released to you. We will let you know what is happening at each stage of your enquiry.
Payment arrangements The charge for the Paid Research service is £25.00 per hour, or part thereof. You can pay for this service in the following ways:
Please click this link to take you to our new online application form.
Click here to learn about our online payments refund policy. PDF (64k)
In both cases, please complete an “Application for Search Service” form, which can be downloaded by clicking the link below, stating clearly what information you are looking for and which records you would like us to check. Research service application form PDF (408k) To view this File you need to have installed on your PC a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Please click on the icon below to download a copy for free.  If you wish to do the research yourself our searchroom staff are always happy to advise you. However, they cannot do the research for you. If you wish to visit the Record Office please note our opening times and that you need to bring some identification with you which gives your name, address and signature. If your interest is family history please click here for a list of all Church of England, Catholic and Nonconformist registers available at the County Record Office. | ||
| Employing a private researcher | | |
You can employ a private researcher to do your research for you, and their rates may vary from the standard charge applied by the record office. Private researchers can be found on our List of Record Searchers. | ||
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