INDEXES AT THE SOMERSET RECORDS OFFICE
Introduction
Indexes provide an important means of discovering whether the Somerset Record Office contains the information you want. Indexes are seldom comprehensive, however, and you should not expect them to answer all, or even most, of your questions. You will still need to seek advice from staff, and to use sources imaginatively.

The majority of indexes in the Record Office have been compiled from document lists (or catalogues). Such lists are shelved in the Searchroom, and may tell you all you need to know about a document. You should always consult them before you decide whether to order a document from the strongrooms

About this Guide
This guide lists all the major indexes available in the Somerset Record Office. Indexes 1-15 are stored in the Searchroom, and are numbered in accordance with this guide; indexes 16-19 are stored as microfiche (ask a member of staff); indexes 20-23 are stored in the strongroom (ask a member of staff).
The Indexes
1. Genealogical Index
Contains, alphabetically by parish, information such as covering dates of parish registers, existence of transcripts, and whether parish is covered by Dr Campbell's or Phillimore's indexes (see 16 and 20 below).
2. Places Index
Contains brief details of documents held for each parish in the county. It does not duplicate information contained in other specialised indexes and finding aids, and is thus far from comprehensive. Out-county material is indexed under county names.
3. Manorial Index
Contains brief details, by manor, of manorial documents held (e.g. court rolls, surveys, etc). In the right-hand corner of index cards are the names of parishes within which manors lay.
4. Persons Index
Index compiled mainly from lists of estate and private documents. It is not, therefore, by any means comprehensive, and does not duplicate information contained in other specialised indexes and finding aids.
5. Subjects Index
As 4 above. Includes major sub-sections (alphabetical by parish) on Churches, Education (ie school records), Inns, Mills, and Tithe Papers.
6. Quarter Sessions Index
Index to places, persons, and subjects mentioned in Quarter Sessions Rolls (Q/SR). Covers the years 1607-16 and 1660-1730. For index to 17th century Quarter Sessions Order Books (Q/SO) (civil cases only) see Somerset Record Society vols 23, 24, 28, and 34. For index to enrolled deeds (Q/RDd), see vol 51.
7. Wills Indexes
The great majority of wills proved in the diocese until 1857 were destroyed by enemy action in 1942. Those which survive are indexed as:

a) Estate Duty Wills (DD/ED), being duplicates of wills proved in the diocese (excluding peculiars), 1812-57;

b) Office Wills, being wills of any date found in various Record Office collections. See also 23 below.

8. Probate Inventories
Index, by person and place, chiefly of inventories for the Archdeaconry of Taunton (DD/SP), c. 1630-c. 1730; includes also some late 16th and early 17th century inventories from the diocesan collection (D/D/Cti).

For other inventories see Subject Index: 'Inventories'.

9. Taunton Courier Index
Index, by place and subject, to the 'Taunton Courier' newspaper, 1809-c. 1831. Only references to Taunton, Wellington, and parishes in the immediate neighbourhood of Taunton are covered by the index.
10. Clergy Index
Index, by person and place, to ordination and presentation papers, 1697-1837. See also F. W. Weaver (ed.), Somerset Incumbents (1889) (annotated copy stored as DD/X/JF 7), and 22 below.
11. Glebe Terriers Index
Index to Glebe Terriers (D/D/Rg), being surveys of glebe lands and tithes belonging to each parish, and sometimes including a description of the parsonage house, 17th century.
12. Deposition Books Index
Index, by surname, to Diocesan Deposition Books (D/D/Cd), covering some books in the period 1695-1744.
13. Settlement and Bastardy Papers Index
Index, by surname, of bastardy and settlement papers found in parish and some other collections (e.g. Ilminster Petty Sessions: D/PS/ilm).
14. Marriage Licences Index
Index, by surname, to marriage bonds and allegations, main diocesan series, 1756-1805; Bridgwater area, 1787-94, 1801-11, 1817, 1818; peculiars, from c. 1740. See also A. J. Jewers, Marriage Allegation Bonds of the Bishops of Bath and Wells from their Commencement to the Year 1755 (1909), and Col H. R. Phipps, Diocesan Licence Books, 1583-1676 (3 vols, typescript).
15. Vernacular Architecture Index
Index, by parish, to reports on individual properties inspected by members of the Vernacular Architecture Group (continuing). See also Listed Building reports.
16. Dr Campbell's Index
Index, by surname, of baptisms and marriages in the parishes of South and West Somerset, as far east as Martock, Ilminster, Langport, etc, from beginning of registers to 1899. Excludes Minehead, Taunton, Wilton, Wellington, and Bridgwater, and marriages covered by Phillimore's Somerset Marriages (15 vols, 1898-1915) (for which see 1 above and 20 below). See key map for details of coverage.
17. North Somerset Marriage Index
Index, by male surname, to marriage registers for those Somerset parishes which are now parts of Avon, 1754-1837. A comparable index for the rest of the county, by male and female surnames, is held by the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society. Ask for details.
18. North Somerset Monumental Inscriptions Index
Index, by surname, to monumental inscriptions for those Somerset parishes which are now parts of Avon.
19. International Genealogical Index (Mormon Index)
Index, by surname, of baptisms/births and marriages. The index presently covers a very small percentage of register entries for the county, but provides almost comprehensive coverage of surviving pre-1837 nonconformist register entries. Indexes for Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, and Wiltshire are also held.
20. Phillimore's Marriage Index
Index, by surname, to Phillimore's Somerset Marriages (15 vols, 1898-1915), usually from beginning of registers to 1812, but sometimes to 1837. See 1 above for details of coverage.
21. Dwelly's Bishop's Transcripts Index
Index, by surname, to some pre-1812 Bishop's Transcripts of parish registers, covering parishes scattered over about a third of the county.
22. Fitzroy Jones Clergy Index
Index to Somerset clergy, 1309-18th century, based mainly on information from bishops' registers, and thus largely excluding curates.
23. Brown's Index
Index, by surname, to wills and pedigrees contained in 32 ms volumes compiled by the Revd Frederick Brown (DD/SAS C/1193/5), chiefly 16th-18th century. Most of the wills were published as Revd F. Brown, Abstracts of Somersetshire Wills (6 vols and typescript index, 1887-90).