The expanding interest in genealogy is reflected in the growing availabilityof reference sources, both in print and on the internet. This proliferation brings with it its own confusion since it is often difficult to pin down a source for the specific information for which you are searching. The references below should help to locate information relating to the geographical area covered by this site. The links to web sites open in a new window; to return to this page simply close the new window.

A recently published book, which is now into its second edition, is ‘Thread Of Iron’ (ISBN: 1 903607 337), published by Able Publishing. Written by Douglas Vernon, a long-time resident of Shotley Bridge, the subtitle of the book - ‘A definitive history of Shotley Bridge and Consett and District, County Durham with particular reference to iron and steelmaking’ -  sums up the range of this copiously illustrated, 366 page volume. If you are at all interested in the industrial history of this area over the last 2000 years this book will amply repay its purchase price.

www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html If you need it, you can download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from this site.

www.northpennineancestors.co.uk/Index.htm If you follow the tributaries which combine to form the river Derwent you find yourself well into the foothills of the North Pennines. This is more or less at the centre of the area covered by the North Pennine Ancestors site. This site is worth bookmarking if you are researching ancestors in this area

www.durham.gov.uk/recordoffice   www.swinhope.myby.co.uk/NRO/index.html                                   www.thenortheast.com/archives                                                                                                           The three links above are for Durham Record Office, Northumberland Archive Service and Tyne and Wear Archives Service. These organisations provide access to a mine of information for both Family History and Local History research. The websites give some idea of the type and range of information held. Since the Derwent valley forms part of the boundary between Durham and Northumberland for the greater part of its length it is likely that anyone researching family links in this area will find access to one or more of these repositories of use.

www.swinhope.myby.co.uk/genuki/NBL/NCLLib/ This is a link to Newcastle Local Studies Library and shows lists of the range and type of information held in this section of Newcastle Central Library. I hope the listings spur you into a visit - well worth while.

www.durham.gov.uk The website of Durham County Council. This site is worth bookmarking for its various local connections, but particularly for the Library Online facility which is linked to from the ‘Popular Pages’ section on the Home page of the site. Even if you are not a member of a local library you can still perform searches for books of local interest, as well as any other book; it is sometimes surprising what you can unearth.

www.northumberland.gov.uk/..%5Cdefault.asp Northumberland County Council website. Again, useful for its various local connections and information. It does not appear to have a Library Online facility - at least none that I can find - which is a shame.

www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk This site should be in every Family Historians list of bookmarks. Alan Godfrey produces reproductions of old large scale Ordnance Survey maps which are tremendously detailed, very clear and extremely reasonably priced - very useful for identifying old addresses and pinning down locations mentioned in old records.

www.twrcomputing.co.uk This firm has a good range of genealogy related software. Most Family Historians have their own particular preferences for software used for recording their family details; mine is for Family Tree Maker which is stocked by this firm. Version 11 is now available and is very reasonably priced.

www.ndfhs.org.uk The site of the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society. No records online but plenty of information as to what is available at the Society headquarters in Newcastle and details of how to become a member; well worth considering.

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Products/Display&pfid=1047024307383&pid=1047025487586 This site shows details of PaintShop Pro software which, while not being Family History software, is extremely useful in the manipulation of digital images. So if you have a need for software to handle scanned images of old family photos or those downloaded from a digital camera this software does a pretty good job. You can buy it from this site but I think you will get a better deal from www.dabs.com Another piece of software which you will find useful if you only do a small amount of digital manipulation is Picasa2 This is a really useful piece of software if, like me, you have a large number of images on your hard drive and find it a bit of a chore keeping them organised. Picasa will search your computer and present an easily scrollable view of all the images it finds without moving or adjusting them in any way; think of it as a pictorial filing system. Its efficiency is hardly surprising since it is produced by Google, of search engine fame. Even if you use a programme like PaintShop Pro for more heavy duty photo manipulation Picasa2 is a very useful filing system and image finding backup. It is also totally free.

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