Reading old handwriting - Introduction - Monday 7th April 2025

Reading old handwriting - Introduction

Monday 7th April 2025

2.00pm to 3.30pm

Hampshire Record Office, Winchester

This informal session is ideal for those who would like to find out how to read old documents, especially those that might be useful for local and family history research. This talk is aimed at the beginner and no previous knowledge of reading old handwriting is required.

Do you find reading old handwriting a challenge? If you would like to find out how to read the handwritten documents you may encounter when researching family or local history, these classes are ideal for you. In these sessions, we will look at a selection of typical formats of document that you may find from the 16th to 19th century, and we will see common ways of writing particular letters, abbreviations and phraseology.

Each session will focus on a particular group of records. We will introduce you to some of the styles of handwriting found in historical documents, and provide some tips for coping with the abbreviations often found in them. There will be a chance to try reading some extracts; you are very welcome to take a turn or not as you prefer. Cracking the code can be great fun and very rewarding and we will make these informal and, we hope, enjoyable sessions.

Price: £15.00 per person