BritishOrigins.com Review

BritishOrigins.com is a great site offering access to a range of research materials from Britain and Ireland. As one of the finest depositories of materials from Britain and Ireland, we're positive that this site has loads to offer a user from the UK or Ireland. The Origins Network is in a unique position, with links with a number of genealogical organisations, such as the Society of Genealogists, the National Library of Ireland, and the Borthwick Institute for Archives allowing exclusive online access to important primary sources, abstracts and index databases. Scottish users will be especially pleased to hear that access to the ScotsOrigins records and databases is completely free for all users.

BritishOrigins allows users access to a range of high quality materials and data. Many of the collections are materials that, outside of BritishOrigins, would only be available by travelling to the national archives in the UK and Ireland. There are a number of major collections - pre 1837 marriage records, one of the premier collections of will extracts, court hearing listings, poor law records and apprenticeship listings. We were particularly impressed by the fact that users can download and print a range of primary source data from 1550 to 1935. All of the materials offered are delightfully rich, offering a great deal more in depth information than expected. The innovative search function, which seems a little unprepossessing at the outset, is actually an 'intelligent' search function which searches additional records which could be useful in your search. In short, we are pretty impressed with the facilities offered by BritishOrigins.com, and think you will be too!

Despite a fantastic range of primary sources, we do think that this site is a little overpriced for what it offers. Complete membership, allowing access to the full range of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh materials, is £47 annually. Compared to the membership cost of one of our highest rated sites, Ancestry.com, which offers a full collection of international materials, we think that this site could be a little cheaper considering its offerings are restricted to the UK and Ireland.

Despite this, we would still recommend this site if your search is focussed in the UK or Ireland, because of the quality and range of digtized images. Better still, if you're searching your Scots ancestry, this site really can't be beaten as it offers the same amazing resources, absolutely free! If this sounds like something you would be interested in, hit the link below to check it out for yourself!