Wills and probate records can be a treasure trove of information for genealogy, family history, and local history. They can, among other things, show what property people possessed (and to whom it was bequeathed), and provide evidence of the relationships between the people named.

Until 1858, the process of probate was administered by the church. Waters Upton, along with many other north Shropshire parishes, fell within the Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry. Almost all probate records relating to Waters Upton residents before 1858 are therefore held by Lichfield Record Office (with digital copies now indexed and available online at Findmypast).

Responsibility for probate moved to the state in 1858. From that time onwards, the process was administered by Probate Registries, with ‘probate calendars’ for the whole of England and Wales published annually.

My abstracts of probate records relating to Waters Upton can be viewed on the following pages:

● Wills & Probate before 1858 (in progress)

● Wills & probate after 1858