How to Read Old English Handwriting

One of the best websites to learn how to read old English handwriting is www.NationalArchives.gov.uk/paleography. The use of the website is free and has many tutorials that will help you learn to read the handwriting found in documents written in English between 1500 and 1800.

At first glance, many documents written at this time look illegible to the modern reader. By reading the practical tips and working through the documents in the tutorials in order of difficulty, you will find that it becomes much easier to read old handwriting. This website has many many documents to practice on to improve your reading skills of old English handwriting.

You will be able to practice your reading skills of old English handwriting for the 16th century, the 17th century and the 18th century. To the surprise of some, after 1733 official documents were written in English. Before that time, official documents were written in Latin. The website has tutorials to teach you to read Latin.

The website also teaches your about dates. 1752 was the first year in England to officially begin on 1 January. Until the Calendar Act of 1752, the year in England began officially on 25 March (Lady Day), and not 1 January (even though this was when New Year's Day was celebrated). Arabic numbers were not used in England until the 16th century, and even after then Roman numerals continued to be used.