Archive collections
Search our online catalogue and prepare for your visit.
Welcome to the West Glamorgan Archive Service online catalogue. It contains over 230,000 entries describing items in our collections, and includes archive documents, recordings in our screen and sound archive, and books and articles in our searchroom library.
Before you begin, here are some links to help you find out how the catalogue works and how to get the most out of searching it:
Other resources on our website
- Want to find a farm or village on an old map? Try our Index of Placenames
- Looking to see what parish registers are available? Here is a list of what we hold
- Did your ancestor die in the First World War? We have made a searchable index to the war memorials we hold.
External resources
- Was your ancestor a Swansea mariner? Try the Swansea Mariners website. You can search for Swansea registered ships and the people who sailed them. We hold the original records.
- You can find all sorts of things in old newspapers. Try Welsh Newspapers Online for all the Welsh papers up to 1919.
Found what you wanted? Find out where you can see it:
- Archives, books and articles at West Glamorgan Archives
- Neath Antiquarian Society archive collections held in Neath
- Recordings and films in the Screen and Sound Archive
Want to know more?
- Find out more about getting copies of documents
- We can undertake research for you for a fee. Find out more.
- You can contact us with a query
Here are some leaflets and source lists that we have put together to explain some of the popular record types and help you with your research:
1. Poor Law Union records (PDF, 293KB)Opens new window
2. The Land Tax (PDF, 812KB)Opens new window
3. A map of ancient parishes in West Glamorgan (PDF, 603KB)Opens new window
4. Tithe maps (PDF, 450KB)Opens new window
5. Reading old documents (PDF, 709KB)Opens new window
6. Electoral registers (PDF, 835KB)Opens new window
7. Parish registers and chapel records (PDF, 2MB)Opens new window
8. Schools and their records (PDF, 2MB)Opens new window
9. Local authority boundaries in West Glamorgan (PDF, 9MB)Opens new window
10. Coroners' records (PDF, 5MB)Opens new window
11. A gazetteer of localities in the West Glamorgan area (PDF, 5MB)Opens new window
12. Guide to Second World War online resources (PDF, 914KB)Opens new window
Using the catalogue
How to get the best out of searching the catalogues.
Archive collection FAQs
Information about the catalogue and how to use it.
Terms used in the archive catalogue
An explanation of some of the terms used in our online catalogue.
West Glamorgan Screen and Sound Archive
Our film and sound recording collections housed at the Civic Centre, Swansea
Index of place names in the West Glamorgan area
Have you come across a name of a farm or locality and can't find it on a modern map? This index is designed to help you find where it was.
Parish registers at West Glamorgan Archives
Are you looking to find where your ancestors might have been baptised, married or buried? Here is a list of all the parish registers we hold.
