[Phoenix]

Highest Court: PCC. Wills are online, adminstrations are not.

England is divided into 2 provinces: York and Canterbury. If you had property in both provinces, it would be proved in Canterbury.

The provinces are divided into Dioceses. These may roughly correspond to modern counties.... or they may not. If you had property in several dioceses, then it would be proved in the appropriate province: PCC or PCY.

The dioceses are divided into archdeaconries. If you had property in several archdeaconries, then the will would be proved in the consistory or commissary court of the diocese.

If your property was solely in an archdeaconry, then the will would be proved in the archdeacon's court.

Unless, of course, you decided to prove the will in a higher court or you lived in a peculiar - a place outside this general system.

Phillimore's Atlas has county maps, showing the boundaries of the various courts for each county. This should still be accessible in major libraries. Alternatively, write to the county record office where your ancestor lived and they should be able to tell you which courts might be involved.

I believe the Wiltshire Wills Project was started because they had wills from over twenty courts which geographically covered several counties.