Wow. Good info. The problem I have is that ALL my family are abroad seing as I live in the Basque Country......so on the spot detective work is going to be tough unless I can twist my father's arm.

The Glamorgan Family History Society looks a good bet seeing as my fathers side appear to have married, died or been born in Cardiff/Ponty/Rhymney/Bedwellty. I think I have found my great grandparents marriage registry from the free .gov site. but again they are Williams, Matthews and Phillips so it's a little guessy beyond that seeing as I'm approximating the area and date of birth (give or take 10 years) and there are hundreds of people with those surnames. If they were immigrants from other parts of Wales (or god forbid...) , which I suppose the vast majority were in the late 1800's it's pretty much potluck when defining the search area. That's why I'm pretty much stuffed without the Marriage certificate of my great-grandparents.

On my Grandfathers side, his parents/grandparents were supposedly tinker-types from the North of Ireland so feck knows how I'd find that or even if traveller people were all registered, being nomadic and whatnot.

I'll probably have to take the plunge and get the marriage certificate of my great-granparents and take it from there, as advised, month by month.

If any of you want to share the intimate details of your finds, personally, I love good nose.