Postal Enquiry Service

Do you have an enquiry?

If you think we can help you find the answer, the simplest thing is to visit us at Chester History & Heritage in St Michael's Church, Bridge Street Row. There is no admission charge and our staff will advise you on the sources you need to study to do your research.

Sometimes it is not possible or convenient for you to come in to do your own research. In those circumstances, do please write to us or telephone.

Is there a charge?

If you come into the reading room to do your own research, you only pay for any photocopies you want. If you need us to do the research for you there will be a charge. The staff are able to answer single, limited and specific postal or phone enquiries free of charge. If your enquiry needs more research, you will be asked to pay the research fee.

How much does it cost? 

The fee for the enquiry service is £20.50 for the first hour, then £18.50 thereafter including VAT. The minimum charge is for one hour. Students (of all ages), children under 16, people over 60 and other unwaged people will be charged at £15.50 and £13.50 including VAT.

There are no extra charges for postage or administrative costs and photocopies will be provided free if this is the most economical way of giving you the answer to your enquiry.

How do you begin?

Before making a request for research you may want to check that Chester History & Heritage has the records which will help answer your enquiry. Here is a short list of some of our sources;

• Parish Records for Chester
• Electoral Registers
• 1881 National Census on CD-Rom
• 1841 1901 census for Chester & District on microfilm and microfiche
• General Register Office Index 1837 1969
• I G I
• Overleigh Cemetery Registers on microfiche
• Local Studies Library
• Local Newspapers on microfilm
• Chester Image Bank
• Maps and Prints
• Chester Photographic Survey

so you can write or phone - we do not charge for a basic enquiry of that kind.

How do you make your request?

Complete one of our official research application forms and send your request together with, at least, the minimum research fee. Cheques (in pounds sterling only) should be made payable to Chester City Council.

The minimum charge of £20.50 (£15.50 special rate) buys you one hour of research. Some enquiries may take longer. After the first hour, we charge £18.50 per hour.

If you do not know how long the search is likely to take, do not worry. Send us the minimum fee. Unless you have instructed us otherwise, we will report back to you after three hours of research. In this way you can be sure you are not running up large bills. You can stop at that stage or ask us to continue to research a little longer.

Postal Enquiry Service Order Form  (47kb)

How do you pay? 

Unless you have specified a time limit and paid in advance, you will be sent a bill for the cost of your research once work has been completed. Once you send us the amount outstanding (you will have paid the minimum fee as an initial deposit), we will send you the results of the research.

What do you get for your money? 

The results of our research are sent to you as a typed report, supplemented by photocopies, if appropriate. In addition to any information revealed by the research, the report will include a summary of the records consulted, the time taken and will recommend further avenues of investigation where appropriate.

Are you guaranteed results?

If you request research, we guarantee that we will undertake that research and report back to you. We cannot, however, guarantee to find an answer to your enquiry. Records do not always provide us with the answers we want; sometimes the results of research can be disappointingly slight or negative, but you can be sure that we will do our best to give you the information you are looking for.

How long will you wait for a report? 

Some enquiries will be urgent - if you need a response by a deadline, please mark this clearly on your application. If there is going to be a problem meeting the deadline, we will let you know. Applications without a deadline are handled in the order they are received and you may have to wait 2-3 weeks if there is a lot of demand on the service.

If there are any problems with your request, for example if you have not given us enough information to do any research, we will let you know.

What if you do not want this service?

We have had to introduce this arrangement because we have so much work and too few people to carry it all out.

If you do not want to use the research service, you could visit Chester History & Heritage to do your own research or engage your own independent record agent to do your research.

If you want to visit us yourself, don't forget, there is no admission charge and you don't need an appointment if you come in our core opening times : Monday - Friday, 10.00am - 4.00pm.

If you have any questions regarding the research service or Chester History and Heritage please contact us on:

Tel. no. 01244-402110 or Email the research service at chh@chester.gov.uk

Copies

We can provide photocopies, where copyright and the condition of the item makes this possible.

• Photocopies A4/A3 20p
• Image Bank printouts £1.50
• Film/fiche printouts 80p
• CD Rom and Internet printouts 20p

Write or phone for more information, or just call in.

Sometimes the results of research can be negative, but in all cases we will send you the results of our research, the sources consulted, and time taken and will recommend any further avenues of investigation. All research enquiries will be answered within three weeks.