Basics

People Records

Property Records

Sources & More

Links to external web sites

Brentford

• Peter Rutt's site for 'frustrated Brentonians' includes a lot of memories and photos of the town
• Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society includes details of their current programme of events
• Brentford community web site
• Thomas Layton collection. Thomas Layton lived in Brentford between 1826 & 1911; an avid collector he left over 20,000 objects when he died

Brentford Plus

• The British History Online web site describes itself as a 'digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles'. There is no charge to use this site, which includes text search facilities. See Ealing and Brentford Economic History page as an example of the wealth of information available
• You may find your ancestor appeared as a witness or defendant at the Old Bailey using the searchable database of proceedings from 1674 - 1834. For example, if you have interests in the names Saunders or Honeybone of Brentford, or Goodenough of Isleworth, see details of a case from 1828. (Use your browser to search for Goodenough to get to the right part of the page)
• A2A (Access to Archives) try a search on 'Brentford NEAR5 High Street" to find details of records which include 'Brentford' within five words of 'High Street'; I found several summaries of deeds this way
• The National Archives documents on line site (choose 'family history' from the left bar and then 'Wills' to see PCC wills index or 'Registers of Seamens Services' to see a searchable index of seamen who joined the Royal Navy between 1873 & 1923)
• Historical directories site from Leicester University, it is possible to search by county, decade or even a person's name (it does seem to run very slowly in the evening)
• A free index of births, marriages and deaths 1837 to ca 1910 (as at Sep 2005): not a complete record of central registration yet but worth a look; it is possible to limit searches to Brentford Registration District (choose 'Brentford' in the list of registration districts, or set 'volume' to '3a' to see a wider area including Brentford)
• West Middlesex Family History Society for anyone with family interests in the Brenford area: their home page shows the parishes covered
• English Heritage site contains photos of the listed properties in Brentford
• 24 Hour Museum National virtual museum: search on 'Brentford'
• Surname profiler: search on your surname to find out where it is most prevalent; I have tried this on Dear, Narroway, Napper (which appear in Brentford prior to 1850) with interesting results
• If you are struggling to date an old photo try Victorian photographs site
• Phillimore's Middlesex parish register transcripts: searchable by surname; includes New Brentford, Ealing (which covered Old Brentford) & Hanworth, generally predates 1837