Court of the Peculiar of Peak Forest

England Derbyshire  Derbyshire Probate Records

Step by Step
1. First search each index (see below) to help you more quickly find the will, writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry.

2. Proceed to the "Probate Records Held in This Archive" (below) to determine what original probate records exist for this court. Also see "Probate Records of This Court in The Family History Library".

3. Contact or visit the Lichfield Record Office or, hire a professional record searcher to view these records on your behalf. Officials may send upon request a list of record searchers.

4. Visit The Family History Library, or, one of its 4,500 satellite family history centers worldwide and search indexes to probate records. Then with the information obtained from the index[es] you can search more quickly the original wills and admons also on microfilm via any centers near you.

Indexes
The collection on microfilm includes a Calendar of wills, administrations and inventories. A calendar is an index arranged first alphabetically by the beginning letter of a testator's surname and second by date.

The British Index Library has published an index to wills for 1529-1652 for the peculiars deposited at Lichfield including Peak Forest.

Records
The original records for Peak Forest are deposited at the Lichfield Record Office. They include:


 * Original wills, 1647-1858

The records have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and through family history centers. They include:


 * Original wills, administrations, and inventories from various Peculiar Courts. The records are arranged by first letter of the testator's surname then by date.

Jurisdiction
This court had primary jurisdiction solely over the extra-parochial parish of Peak Forest. It was a peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield and some probates for residents of Peak Forest may be found among that court's records.

Though technically the Court of the Bishop of Lichfield did not have superior jurisdiction over Peak Forest, as the largest court of original jurisdiction in the county, its records may also include the probates of persons who resided in Peak Forest.