Unlock your ancestors' amazing stories with online archives from the South East of England

Reading is the county town of Berkshire and the River Thames flows through the county. Windsor Castle, a long-time royal residence, is also located here. Will records reveal you have ancestors from Abingdon, Sandhurst or Newbury?

In the 19th century, Buckinghamshire saw many of its rural residents sell their land and move to towns and cities in search of work. Over time, the county has become a popular hub for London commuters.

Winchester, Hampshire's county town, is home to one of Europe’s largest cathedrals. The county’s most populated areas are the coastal cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, where many early American colonists set sail from.

If your ancestors originate from this once very rural part of England, they may have been employed in the farming, fishing or boat-building industries. Queen Victoria's affection for the island turned it into a fashionable holiday destination.

Its abundance of orchards and allotments has given Kent the nickname 'Garden of England'. Due to its location, the county has also been one of the nation's first lines of defence from invaders throughout history.

Nowadays this historic county mainly sits within the ceremonial county of Greater London. Middlesex was largely rural until the 19th century when places like Hampstead and Twickenham attracted visitors on a leisurely day out of London.

Oxfordshire has been a county since the 10th century. From the 13th century, it benefited from the Cotswold wool trade. In 1912, Morris Motors brought industrialisation to this mainly agricultural county.

England's most wooded county has many commons, country trails and bridleways. Over the centuries, Surrey's economy has thrived from the wool, paper and gunpowder trades. It's also home to several royal palaces. 

It’s a historic county now, but Sussex was once an independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom. European craftsmen brought skills to the iron, timber, cloth and glass industries. Could your family have links to the county's nobility?