It appears that Leicestershire Records Office have introduced a policy that prevents the public from accessing original documents. As they do not appear to be transferring the documents to other formats,ie. micro fiche or film, a lot of parish records are going to be inaccessible. Is this legal ?.
They are probably putting them on CD so they can charge you a hefty price. Lots of councils that let you see things for free are doing this, mainly southern counties I must admit. Cambridge charges you £29 a time for Cd's. I guess it is another way of getting revenue.
Parish Registers are only at the County Record Office as the CRO house the Diocesan Archive, the CRO cannot do anything with Parish Registers, the Diocesan Archivist is in charge of them, I suggest you write or email the Leicestershire Docicese and ask what the plans are for future access, they may well respond by telling you that ther baptims and marriages are extensively covered by the IGI however.
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