Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

Summer 2025

South Gloucestershire

Serving South Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire Archives collects, preserves and makes accessible archives relating to the historic county of Gloucestershire. This includes an area to the north of Bristol which is now administered by South Gloucestershire Council, a unitary authority in existence since 1996.  Since then, we have been working in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council to ensure that the rich archive resources relating to this area are safely preserved and shared. Boundary changes over the years can pose a challenge to researchers. This is particularly true for parishes which, until 1974,  were in the south of the county.  We have therefore produced the South Gloucestershire Research Mini Guide to provide a basic introduction and overview. We have also compiled the more in depth South Gloucestershire Guide.which has a detailed breakdown of all available records and their location. This resource can be searched by place and topic.

What types of record are held?

Parish Records - Gloucestershire Archives holds records for churches that used to be in the Diocese of Gloucester, under the control of the Bishop of Gloucester. Some parishes close to Bristol in South Gloucestershire were in the Diocese of Bristol, under the control of the Bishop of Bristol. This generally includes parishes south of Thornbury and Yate. These records are held at Bristol Record Office. To find out where the records of the parish you are looking for are held, please see the Parish Register Guide. For more information on parish registers please see Research Mini Guide 4: Parish Registers. You can see which parishes of the historic county are now in South Gloucestershire on this map

Workhouse and Poor Law Records - Gloucestershire Archives holds the records of the Sodbury (reference: G/SO) and Thornbury (reference: G/TH) Poor Law Unions. Unfortunately few records relating to the workhouses have survived. Some of the parishes close to Bristol are in the Bristol or Keynsham Poor Law Unions. The records of the Bristol Poor Law Union are held at Bristol Record Office. The records of the Keynsham Poor Law Union are held at the Somerset Record Office.

District Council Records - The district councils and their boundaries changed in 1974, so the records are often split into pre-1974 and post-1974 groupings. Pre-1974, Gloucestershire Archives holds records of:

  • Kingswood Urban District Council (Reference: DA8)
  • Mangotsfield Urban District (Reference: DA10)
  • Sodbury Rural District Council (Reference: DA33)
  • Thornbury Rural District Council (Reference: DA38)
  • Warmley Rural District Council (Reference: DA39)

Bristol Record Office holds records of:

  • Barton Regis Rural District Council
  • Horfield Urban District Council

Post 1974, records of Kingswood Borough Council and Northavon District Council are held at Gloucestershire Archives. In addition, some records of South Gloucestershire Council (1996 onwards) are held at Gloucestershire Archives.

School Records - We encourage schools to deposit their archives for safe-keeping with a public archive service. Generally schools in South Gloucestershire deposit their archives at Gloucestershire Archives. However, some (especially those which are close to Bristol) deposit their archives at Bristol Record Office.

Electoral Registers - The South Gloucestershire parishes were covered by these districts:

  • 1832-1885     Western Division of Gloucestershire
  • 1886-1948     Thornbury Division
  • 1948-1974     Split between South Gloucestershire Division and Thornbury & Stroud
  • (In 1954 the Thornbury & Stroud Division separated and the southern parishes moved to the South Gloucestershire Division.)
  • 1974 onwards  Kingswood, North Avon and South Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire Archives holds registers for the Western, Thornbury, Thornbury & Stroud, and South Gloucestershire divisions, up to 1974.

From 1974 onwards Gloucestershire Archives holds the Kingswood registers for 1974-1987 and for South Gloucestershire 1983/1984.  Other Kingswood, North Avon and South Gloucestershire registers are held by South Gloucestershire Electoral Services. Bristol Record Office holds Bristol poll books, 1715-1847; Bristol electoral registers, 1843-1900 

If the records are held at Gloucestershire Archives, you can search our online catalogue to view a list of records in the collections www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives and make an appointment to visit us here at the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. However, many of our parish registers and electoral registers have been digitised and can be viewed and searched via the Ancestry website www.ancestry.co.uk (see the relevant research mini guides for more information).

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