Wills are vital resources for family historians. Fortunately, many have survived in various repositories all over the country, but finding them can be a real brick-wall to research.

Prior to 1858, probate was granted in church courts, but the hierarchical nature of these can be difficult to comprehend. See here for excellent clarification. The court used depended on where the deceased’s property was held, not where the person lived or died:

• If the property was contained within one archdeaconry, probate was granted in a local court –records can be found at county record offices.
• If the property was situated in two or more archdeaconries, probate was granted in diocesan court, the records held at the diocesan record office.

Other tips:
• The Prerogative Court of Canterbury is the main source of finding wills. The PCC covered most of the Midlands, southern counties of England and most of Wales. Office copies are held at The National Archives in Kew.
• www.thegenealogist.co.uk has one of the largest collections of wills online: it has PCC wills between 1384 and 1858, and other will indexes from around 20 counties.
• Consult Phillimore’s Atlas and Index to Parish Registers at your local record office. It contains parish maps for each county, showing the local church court jurisdiction.
• Pre-1858 wills for the Prerogative Court of York, covering most northern counties, are held at the Borthwick Institute of Historic Research in York and indexed online – TheGenealogist also has an online index to PCY wills.
• Surviving original wills, searchable at TNA [PROB10], are probably the only source of finding a deceased’s signature.
• ‘Peculiars’ were courts not covered by archdeaconry or diocesan juris-diction – wills proved here are often kept separately at county record offices (CROs).
• Where the deceased left no will, letters of administration exist at CROs. These can give vital information such as date of death and family members.
• Try Death Duty registers at record offices.