This collection of transcriptions of wills and inventories provides a rare and valuable insight into the lives of past inhabitants of the township of Midgley in the parish of Halifax. In addition to information about individual local families and their relationships, the documents provide detailed examples of the architecture and contents of houses, the type of farming that was engaged in, the extent of the dual economy and the home textile industry. Analysis also sheds light on inheritance practices and the nature of religious belief.

These documents were transcribed by members of the Midgley History Group from original records held at the Borthwick Institute at York. Beginning with the earliest, a will from 1531, it includes two groups of documents: twenty wills up to 1587 and twenty-five documents from between 1691 and 1731 that includes both wills and inventories.