Discovering Shropshire's History

http://search.shropshirehistory.org.uk/searching-the-archives/

The staff at Shropshire Archives have done a brilliant job in cataloguing the documents in their care, many (though by no means all) of which have had their contents summarised with all the key names, dates, facts etc. The details can be searched via the link above. Wildcards can be used, so for example if I want to find documents containing the name Atcherley and most of its regular variants (but without lots of references to archaeology which would otherwise also appear!) I search for: a*ch*l*y -archaeology

Once you have found a document of interest, you can visit the Archives and (with a valid Shropshire Archives Reader's Ticket, not a CARN reader's ticket) view the original in the search room. If a visit is not possible, you can contact the Archives to request that they send you a photocopy or digital copy, for which a fee will of course be charged (always assuming the state of the document is such that it can be copied without causing damage). I have to say, in many cases where the catalogue entry is nice and detailed, viewing the original has proved to be unnecessary (though of course it's always nice to see the original article).