I wonder if there has been any attempt to create a web-based listing, more or less comprehensive, of all the Landed, Manorial, or Gentry Families in England, Wales, and the Irish Pale, on a county by county basis for the period, say, 1066-1688 (taking the Conquest and the end of Heraldic Visitations to be reasonable rough dates for coverage)? If not, is anyone else interested in the creation of such a list, and/or contributing to it? It might be useful to create such a listing as a group project so that registered people can add to it (with some kind of justification based on at least one primary source for such a claim). This could be a good opportunity for a lot of expertise that might otherwise not get recorded to be preserved and made more widely available to serious researchers. To it could be added various kinds of information such as whether there has been anything scholarly (or not) published on a given family, or whether anyone is known to be engaged in a study of a given family. Enthusiasts of a given area or surname or group of families could link to it other resources that may be useful for the study of that family, area, or grouping. While there could be sections pointing to existing resources on the web and elsewhere that provide general information, this listing would concentrate on naming specific families, and providing pointers of direct relevance for the study of individual families. Indeed, where contributors desired, it would be possible to include links to online studies of particular family or group of interrelated families. I think that this could be an extremely useful tool for researchers and help them discover instances where they were not labouring alone on a given family, or were, perhaps, duplicating, or verifying, or following up on, other research. One could also annotate the list with references to the blazons of the coats-of-arms of armigerous families, and give indications of where the family might also be found if a branch were located in another county or country. If such a guide exists in whole or in part already it could serve as a very useful basis for such an ambitious undertaking. I realise that one of the bases for creating such initial listings would be Heraldic Visitations, County Histories, and the works of genealogists such as Burke, but there must also be lists of the gentry (for want of a better word) of a given county such as I have encountered for Sussex and Wiltshire in the early 15th century, as well as Rolls of Arms, Lists of J.P., etc., that would need to be brought to the undertakers' attention for inclusion in the listing by those with more expertise or awareness of available sources. While such a listing would inevitably include families from the peerage; since these are generally fairly well covered, I would hope to see a great deal more matter gathered for families, or branches of families, that never held such rank, or which lost that rank for one reason or another. Any thoughts? Is anyone interested in such a project? Or do listers think I am trying to reinvent the wheel (or attempting the impossible)? Many thanks, in advance, for your thoughts and contributions, Richard P.S. I would be happy to contribute to lists for various counties especially Sussex and Wiltshire in England, and Co. Meath in the Irish Pale. P.P.S. Of course, by suggesting such an idea, I do not wish to imply that similar listings could be not created for other areas, such as Scotland, and countries/regions/cities on the European mainland. I am simply not focused on such research myself, at least not at the moment! P.P.P.S. Happy Victoria Day! Vivat Regina!! Vivat Regina Elizabetha!!!