Quick search

The quick search feature, available in the search box in the top right, allows for a search by search term in the title and description fields of each record we have on our catalogue.

Advanced search

The Advanced Search option, available from the menu to the left, allows for a more detailed search by specific fields:

• Any text: use this to search all text (rather than numbers) in all fields.
• Ref No: use this when you know a particular document reference for what you are interested in.
• Title: catalogue records usually only have summary information in this field.
• Description: catalogue records usually have fuller information in this field.
• Date: you can enter a specific year, a range of years or a century, eg 1981, 1980s, 1980-1990 or 20th cent
• Level: This option is helpful for the more experienced user of archives catalogues. The picklist can be used to restrict your search to certain levels of description. For instance, if you would like to search overall descriptions of all parish collections, select fonds in this picklist with U3* in the Ref No field; if you are interested in all churchwardens’ accounts, enter churchwardens in any text and select sub-fonds in the level picklist.

Search results

The search results are presented as a hitlist. If they extend to more than one page click on Next and Previous to navigate through the pages. If there are less than 5000 search results then the hitlist can be sorted by Ref No, Title and Date by clicking on the column headings at the top of the three columns. The default order is by Ref No.
Click on a record to see its full details. From this record screen, you can click on Ref No to see the record in an outline view of the collection to which it belongs.