Welsh Genealogical Review A quarterly journal edited by John Colclough, dedicated to Welsh family history, evidence analysis, and landscape-based research.
About the Journal Welsh genealogy is shaped by language, landscape, and the survival of records across the old counties. The Welsh Genealogical Review brings together methods, case studies, and fieldcraft for working confidently with Welsh sources — from patronymics and parish registers to chapel books, tithe maps, estate records, and DNA. The journal is freely accessible and published independently as part of an ongoing commitment to clear, evidence-based Welsh genealogical research.
Current Issue Issue / Rhifyn 1 · Haf / Summer 2026 Each article in this first issue explores a cornerstone of Welsh research, forming a practical guide to reading the records of a country where families were tied not to surnames but to places, communities, and the quiet documents that outlasted them.
Featured Articles
- Naming Customs – Pattern Recognition in Welsh Genealogy How naming rhythms, occupational echoes, and anomalies reveal family structure long before the documents confirm it.
- Parish Registers – Reading the Parish Registers Baptisms, marriages, and burials as neighbourhood documents — and how to read the whole page, not just your line.
- Nonconformity – Chapel Books and Nonconformity Membership rolls, minute books, and the seiat as the richest sources in Welsh genealogy.
- Census Records – The 1841 Census and the Vanishing Language Rounded ages, reduced birthplaces, and the linguistic clues hidden between the lines.
- Case Study – Stone by Stone: Tracing One Family Through Eryri A mountain case study using tithe maps, quarry records, and a gravestone to rebuild five generations.
- Genetic Genealogy – DNA and the Old Counties What autosomal tests can and cannot tell you in a country shaped by endogamy and deep local roots.
Access the full issue — six articles · Haf / Summer 2026
Book Reviews / Adolygiadau Llyfrau The journal also publishes reviews of key works in Welsh genealogy, local history, Nonconformity, landscape studies, and DNA. Recent reviews include: Welsh Genealogy — John & Sheila Rowlands The Welsh Surnames — T. J. Morgan
Submissions / Cyflwyniadau The journal welcomes contributions that illuminate Welsh family history and the interpretation of its sources. Submissions may be in English or Welsh. Welsh-language submissions may be subject to additional review for linguistic accuracy. For submission guidelines, please refer to the dedicated Submissions page.
Contact For editorial enquiries, submissions, or permissions: editor@welshgenealogicalreview.com john@welshgenealogicalreview.com
Editor The journal is edited by John Gerard Colclough, genealogist, family historian, and researcher based in Swansea, Wales.
Affiliation The Welsh Genealogical Review is published independently and linked with Genealogy & You, a professional genealogical research service.