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Resources : The United Kingdom

This is a page listing various resources dealing with the United Kingdom's history, geography and related topics and subjects. Resources range from website and online article links to lists of recommended non-fiction bibliography.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This country resources page should only list those links and bibliography that cover the entirety of The United Kingdom. For resources dealing specifically with England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the dependencies, please use their specific resource pages. Thanks and have fun !

Maps

Post-Roman Britain and the Anglo-Saxon Conquest in Maps

UK Treaties Online - From the archives of The Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

UK Treaty Maps Database - From the archives of The Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Old-Maps.co.uk - Works more or less like Google Maps - only old maps of the regions in question (1870 to 1930 mostly) are used.

Old Ordnance Survey Maps - Scans of a selection of the Popular Edition (1920s and 30s), 1 inch to the mile, England and Wales, Ordnance Survey maps displayed using the Google Maps interface.

Old Maps - Maps of towns in England, Scotland and Wales as they were in the 1950s.

Map of potential nuclear target sites in the UK

A parliamentary map of the British Isles - “Showing the electoral divisions as described in the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885. London Atlas series.” British parliamentary constituencies in use between 1885 and 1918.

Side by Side Map Viewer - “Compare a selection of historic maps to modern map or satellite layers.” An excellent site that lets you do side-by-side comparisons of modern Google Maps with various detailed historical maps of the UK. Has Thande's Seal of Approval.

Historical Maps of England & Wales Jurisdictions 1851 - Courtesy of FamilySearch.org. Includes adjustable map-viewing layers (by parish, county, civil registration district, diocese, rural deanery, poor law union, hundred, province, division).

Geography

A Vision of Britain Through Time - Interactive historical geographic survey of the British Isles from 1801 through 2001. Compiled from maps, statistics & historical descriptions. Place name searchable. Excellent source of information for placing ancestors in historical context of their locality.

Gazetteer of British Place Names - Contains the ancient or geographical County of over 50,000 place names in Britain along with modern administrative areas information.

The villages of the UK where everyone came home from the World Wars

Links to articles on UK weather events from 1900 to 1949

General Historiography

Clark J. (ed.), A World By Itself: A History of the British Isles, Heinemann (London), UK, 1st edition 2010, hardcover, 724 p., ISBN 9780434009015 - A good one volume history of Britain from 500 BC to 2009. Doesn't focus solely on England and looks at some counterfactuals at the end of each chapter, which may be of particular interest to any AH.commer.

Fraser R., The Story of Britain: From the Romans to the Present: A Narrative History, W. W. Norton & Company (New York), USA, 1st edition 2005, 2nd edition 2006, hardcover (2005 ed.), softcover (2006 ed.), 848 p. (both editions), ISBN 978-0-393-06010-2 (2005 ed.), ISBN 978-0-393-32902-5 (2006 ed.) - Fraser's book is a “good old-fashioned” history (i.e. “rulers and battles”). A good complement to the Jonathan Clark book, as that has a more “modern” focus.

Bryson B., At Home: A Short History of Private Life, Doubleday (London), UK, 1st edition 2010, hardcover/softcover/e-book, 536 p., ISBN 978-0-385-60827-5 - In the words of the author, “homes are not a refuge from history, they're where history ends up”. The author goes through his house room by room and discusses the reasons why they are like they are. For example, why do we have salt and pepper on the kitchen table ? Why not salt and cumin ? He then delves into the historical reasons for this. It focuses mostly on Britain with a bit of America thrown in too.

History of Britain and Ireland : The Definitive Visual Guide, DK Publishing (London), UK, 1st edition 2011, hardcover, 400 p., ISBN 9780756675554

Political history

Kingdoms and polities of Britain in the early Middle Ages

The Official Website of the British Monarchy

Collection of UK political treaties online - 14,000 archived treaties from the history of the UK, courtesy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The collection comes with a map database.

The Hanoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837

Most likely names to be given to children in the House of Windsor - A spreadsheet made by doing a bit of statistical analysis, courtesy of Alex Richards.

Economy, Research and Transport

Silverwood Mine - The history of a coal mine in South Yorkshire England 1900 to 1996, with listing of 3,000 miners on a linked searchable database for genealogist. This site links families worldwide.

British & Irish Clock and Watch Makers (c1600-c1940) - Online Archive Library, Trade Directory Lists.

Books/Resources on 1840s Britain - Discussion, has some bibliography lists.

Phil Richards' UK rail and rolling stock photos - Mostly albums of post-WWII UK rail vehicles. Albums include: BR London Midlands Region diesel locomotives & electric locomotives, BR Southern Region locomotives, BR Western Region locomotives, BR Eastern & Anglia Region locomotives, BR Scottish Region locomotives, BR Engineering Works, BR electric multiple units, BR diesel multiple units and high speed trains, Post-privatisation digital photos, UK light rail, UK railway infrastructure, UK railtours

The British Horological Institute Limited

Archives, libraries and museums

National Archives of the United Kingdom

National Library of the United Kingdom - Intended as a comprehensive list of every recorded denizen of pre-Norman England.

Domesday Book - A searchable and mappable version of the Domesday Book.

Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England

The Cabinet Papers 1915-1982 - Newly digitised Cabinet Papers (between 1915 and 1977), freely available on the National Archives website.

Staffordshire Name Indexes - Brought to you by Staffordshire & Stoke On Trent Archive Service. Free access to the following indexes: Calendars of Prisoners at Staffordshire Quarter Sessions, 1779-1880; Staffordshire Police Force Registers Index, 1842-1920; Diocese of Lichfield Wills, 1650-1730; Staffordshire Apprentices, 1600-1900; Workhouse Admissions and Discharges, 1836-1900; Tenants of the Manor of Newcastle under Lyme, 1700-1832.

The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd) - Makes available and searchable the principal records of clerical careers from over 50 archives in England and Wales with the aim of providing coverage of as many clerical lives as possible from the Reformation to the mid-nineteenth century. The Database fills major gaps in our knowledge of one of the most important professions in early modern England and Wales. It provides an invaluable research tool for both national and local, academic and amateur historians, and genealogists who often need to discover biographical information about individual clergymen or more about the succession of clergy in a particular place. CCEd is a collaboration between historians at King’s College London, the University of Kent and the University of Reading, and it is supported by the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at King’s College London.

Media

Old UK Photos - Free high resolution old photos and pictures of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and British Isles. Old photographs of Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland. Of interest to all family historians.

Victorian Illustrated Newspapers and Journals: Select list.

Scottish Newspapers on the Internet - List of links from the British Library Newspaper Library.

London National Newspapers on the Internet - List of links from the British Library Newspaper Library.