First

• To find out which parishes we hold registers for and the span of dates held, consult the online Parish Registers guide or...
• Search our catalogues online, or...
• Check out the  Access to Archives website. This site contains catalogues for a great many UK archive collections. You may be able to find records for Dorset that are held by record offices in other parts of the country. This can be searched by personal name and place

Next

If you need further information, contact us with queries about the research service and about our sources via post, e-mail or telephone.

To book a search

• You must complete an application form. You can print off a copy of the form by clicking the link on the right of this page. Please send the completed form to the Dorset History Centre by post or fax as the document must be signed by you

• We will acknowledge your booking by post or e-mail by:

1) Giving a reference for your search

2) An estimate of how long it will take to send out the completed report. This is normally three to four weeks but may extend to six weeks over busy periods

We book time for research by the hour or half hour, with a minimum of one hour or maximum of two hours for each booking. This is so that we can keep you informed of progress and review with you how you wish us to proceed in the light of our findings during the first search. However we cannot guarantee that we will find the information you are looking for as it may not exist in that record. It also allows us to ensure that large bookings do not block up time over a long period.

It is not always easy to estimate the amount of time required to complete a search. Factors affecting the time spent include:

• The number of parishes in your search
• The number of surnames to be searched
• The number of years to be searched
• The size of each parish
• The condition and legibility of the record
• The amount of information which needs to be extracted
• We will tell you in advance if, on the basis of your application form, we think you may not have booked sufficient time

It is not always possible to predict in advance whether sufficient time has been booked. If we run out of time, we will submit our report to you with a further application form and an estimate of how long it might take to complete the work, based on progress to date. In addition we will provisionally book the time and will ask you to confirm that provisional booking by returning the application form together with the payment

Payment

Our application form requires payment in advance for research. We can accept sterling cheques or credit/debit cards. Our current charges are on the front page of the application form and are paid for by the hour. If you prefer to pay with a cheque but are unsure about the time required, we can accept cheques marked 'not to exceed...' with an indication of the maximum you wish to pay.