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Parish Registers

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Extend your Research back to the 1500s

Once you have got as far back as possible using BMD records and census information, you will need to turn to Parish Registers for information. You will usually find parish registers at the local County Record office, or, if you have access to the Internet, at websites like TheGenealogist that offer Parish Register transcripts and other services (e.g. Census & BMD records, etc).

What are Parish Registers?

They are records of baptisms, marriages, and burials made by the Church. They are a valuable resource for researching your family tree because the census and official records of birth, marriage and death do not go back further than 1837. If you are interested in how Parish Registers began, then there is a short history on the site.

What are Phillimore's Marriage Registers?

These books are transcriptions of original parish registers which were published in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries by Phillimore & Co Ltd. The transcriptions were done by W.P. Phillimore - find out more on W.P. Phillimore by clicking here.

Parish Registers: Daily News & Information

A Short History of Parish Records
Parish Registers were first ordered to be kept by Thomas Cromwell, Vicar General of King Henry VIII in 1538.

 

Phillimore's Marriage Indexes on CD-ROM
Phillimore's Marriage Indexes can help you track your ancestors back to the 18th century.

 

Viewing Parish Records in your own home
With the use of personal computers becoming more widespread, the best way to make the parish records easily accessible to the general public is to transfer those records from micro-fiche and film to CD-ROM.

 

Encouraging the Wool Trade
In 1678 an act was passed making it compulsory for all corpses to be buried in a shroud made of wool only. This was to encourage the wool trade.

 

Latest Product Reviews of Parish Registers

February 2008

Clandestine Marriages in the Chapel and Rules of the Fleet Prison 1680-1754

Mark Herber, solicitor; member of the Society of Genealogists and author of Ancestral Trails - the complete guide to British genealogy and family history, has transcribed a series of registers of clandestine marriages which took place in and around the Fleet Prison in London between 1680 and 1754. The original documents can be viewed at The National Archives. READ FULL REVIEW...

January 2008

Business matters, poll books, parish registers, and not so ordinary people

Kathy Chater gives the low-down on the latest CDs. READ FULL REVIEW...

Huguenot refugees in Southampton

This reproduction on CD-ROM of the Huguenot Society Register of Southampton: Births 1567-1779; Marriages 1567-1753; Burials 1567-1722 comprises a full transcription of the church registers of L'Eglise Wallonne de [the Walloon church of] Southampton (Volume 4). It was originally published in 1890, but retains the original French. READ FULL REVIEW...

November 2007

Discover it on disc

If you know where an ancestor lived, parish records, local directories and census returns are good hunting places, and many are now available on CD. Another good source for family historians is wills, and again more have been put on disc recently. READ FULL REVIEW...

October 2007

Grantham, Lincolnshire Parish Registers 1562-1632

This volume, originally published in hard copy by the Lincoln Record Society in 1916, contains a transcription of the registers of the Parish Church of St Wulfram in Grantham. READ FULL REVIEW...

September 2007

Parish Records for Surrey Volume IX - Article September '07

Track your ancestors back to the 18th century and earlier using Phillimore's marriage indexes to the parish records. The parish records covered in volume IX are for the parishes of Stoke D'Abernon 1620-1812, and Haslemere 1772-1812. READ FULL REVIEW...

August 2007

Dudley, Worcestershire Parish Registers 1656-1837

They cover nearly 200 years and contain over 3,000 entries of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials of Quakers, Congregationalists (Independants), Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists. READ FULL REVIEW...

Parish Records for Leicestershire, Volume IX - Article August '07

Track your ancestors back to the 18th century and earlier using Phillimore's marriage indexes to the parish records. The parish records covered in volume IX are for the parishes of Walton-on-the-Wolds, Quorndon, Woodhouse, Wanlip, Swithland and Humberstone. READ FULL REVIEW...

July 2007

Parish Records for Buckinghamshire, Volume IX - Article July '07

Track your ancestors back to the 18th Century and earlier using Phillimore's marriage indexes to the parish records. The parish records covered in volume IX are for the parishes of Broughton, Lathbury, Moulsoe and Newport Pagnell. READ FULL ARTICLE...

June 2007

Discs of Delight

Professional people, poll books and parish registers all appear in this month's CD round-up by Kathy Charter. READ FULL REVIEW...

Parish Records for Derbyshire, Volume IX - Article Jun '07

Trace your ancestors back to the 18th Century and earlier using Phillimore's marriage indexes to the parish records. The parish records covered in Volume IX are for the parish of All Saints, Derby 1558-1837. READ FULL ARTICLE...

April 2007

Ipswich Marriage Licenses 1613 - 1674

A digitally enhanced rendering of documents from the archives of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, chronicling official marriage licences issued from Ipswich Probate Court in the 17th century. READ FULL REVIEW...

March 2007

Nottinghamshire Parish Records - March 2007 Article

Use Phillimore's marriage indexes to track your ancestors back to the 18th century and earlier, before the census and civil registration became available. READ FULL ARTICLE...