Stuart Raymond has been studying local history for almost 50 years. He was formerly librarian of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, and assistant librarian at Deakin University. He has made many contributions to local history journals, and has written numerous handbooks for both local and family historians, for example, The Wills of Our Ancestors, Tracing your Ancestors Parish Records, Tracing Your Ancestors in County Records, Tracing Your Nonconformist Ancestors, Tracing Your Church of England Ancestors, Tracing Your Roman Catholic Ancestors, and Tracing your Poor Ancestors. His recent work, Stourton before Stourhead: A History of the Parish 1550-1750, demonstrates the uses to which the sources described in this book can be put.