A treasure trove of Herts family history going back to the medieval period is now searchable online.

Finding your ancestors has just been made a whole lot easier after Herts County Council’s archive and local studies unit uploaded the wills and inventories of over 20,000 residents of the county going back to 1415.

Staff have drawn on church records dating to the mid Victorian period to expand its database, Hertfordshire Names Online.

Keith Emsall, culture portfolio holder at the council, said: “Wills are incredibly useful sources of information for family historians, offering details of family relationships and insights into everyday life in the past. It is always worth looking to see if an ancestor left a will, no matter what their station in life, and this new service makes finding your ancestors’ wills easier.”

To see what skeletons are in your family closet log on to www.hertsdirect.org/hals