Family History Search

Births and Marriages Family History

Tracing family history is exciting and rewarding but can be time consuming and complicated.

The first step is to gather all the information you can from relatives. Any documents such as wills, birth, death and marriage certificates, family bibles and newspaper cuttings. Draw up a basic family tree to give you an idea of the gaps you will need to fill. Then work backwards using information already known about relatives.

Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages started on 1 July 1837.

Please note we do not hold records of divorces.

The minimum information we require to start a trace on any entry is the registration district, a year and a name. However the more information you supply the higher the odds are of us finding the entry.

Death Records

Death Records are held by Registrars. To carry out a search please contact the Registrars on 01685 727333 or email registrars@merthyr.gov.uk

Burial Records

All burial records for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council cemeteries are held in the Bereavement Services Office, Unit 20, Merthyr Industrial Park, Pentrebach, CF48 4DR. The oldest records go back to the mid 1800’s.

Details available from the registers are as follows:

• Name of the person buried
• Age
• Profession
• Address
• Place where death occurred
• Date of Burial

Family History searches are available providing you have the relevant details to make the search i.e., approx. date of death, full name of deceased, address of deceased.  Please email these details to Bereavement.Services@merthyr.gov.uk and a member of the team will carry out a search and respond alternatively you can telephone 01685 725270.   If you are able to call to our office and carry out the research personally, then access to the records and the information is free of charge.

Please see the Cemetery Fees page for current search fees.

When can a search be carried out?

Anyone wishing to personally carry out a family history search may do so during working hours Monday to Friday, with prior authority from the Bereavement Services Office – please email Bereavement.Services@merthyr.gov.uk or telephone 01685 725270 to arrange an appointment. 

Further information connected with family history research such as obituaries/funeral reports which would have appeared in the Merthyr Express can be found at Merthyr Tydfil Central Library.

Our registers date back as follows:

• Pant 1860
• Cefn 1859
• Ffrwd 1901
• Pontycapel 1982
• Capel Fach 1994
• Aberfan 1876
• Bryntaf 1915
• Beechgrove 1888
• Graigfargoed 1924