For the last couple of days I have been spending my time going through some 200 year old manuscripts of the Court of Great Sessions held at Carnarvon which are located at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, doing some research on criminal trials, and was very surprised to find hidden in the "gaol files" the results of inquests held in the period of time covered by the court session.

I have previously seen inquests covered in the Quarter Session files for Manchester which are on line at Ancestry.

For those that don't know the court of Great Sessions ran in Wales up to 1830 when it was replaced by the Court of Assize. The records of the Court of Assizes for both England and Wales are held by the National Archives in Kew, and although I haven't looked yet it is possible that those records may also have records of inquests.

So the message is don't ignore "criminal court" files when looking for requests of inquests.