Parish Records

Parish records are the records held by the church. In most cases these are now deposited in the local records office of the area.

Included in Parish Records are:

  • Baptisims
  • Marrages
  • Burials
  • Bishops Transcripts

History Parish Records

The first known register of births was in 1497 when Cardinal Ximenes introduced a register of baptisms. In 1563 the Roman Catholic Church ordered that baptismal and marriage registers were to be kept.

In September 1538, Henry VIII made England split from Rome because of his marriage to Catherine of Arragon. Thomas Cromwell told parsh priest to keep a book and that the Parson was to enter all the baptisms, marriages and burials of the previous week. The book was to be kept under two locks. One key for the vicar, the other for the wardens.

Sadly during the English Civil War, records were poorly kept and many of which are now missing after being destroyed or hidden by the clergy. In 1653 the registering of births, marriages and deaths was taken over by civil officers, but the registers were returned to the churches following the Restoration in 1660.

In 1733 all entries had to be made in English rather than Latin.

Baptisms

  • Date of baptism
  • Date of birth (but this is often not recorded)
  • Child's forename
  • Child's surname (though normally omitted as father's name is assumed)
  • Father's name — blank if illegitimate
  • Mother's name (but this is often not recorded)
  • Father's occupation or rank
  • Place of birth (for large parishes)

Marriages

  • Date of marriage
  • For both man and woman
    • Forename and Surname
    • Whether bachelor or spinster, widower or widow
    • Age
    • Whether of-this-parish or of some other place
    • Occupation (normally man only)
    • Father's forename, surname and occupation or rank
    • Signature
  • Whether by Banns or by Licence
  • Witness(es) signature(s)
  • Note: from 1837, the information contained in parish records is the same as that on a civil marriage certificate.

Burials

  • Date of burial
  • Name of deceased
  • Age of deceased
  • Occupation, rank or relationship of deceased
  • Normal place of abode of deceased

Bishops Transcripts

In 1589 the clergy were ordered by Queen Elizabeth I to keep transcripts of their registers including Births, Marriages and Deaths. Burials were also record in loose slips of paper. Within a month of Easter, the clergy were required to send the transcripts of the previous year to the bishop of their diocese.  This was done until 1837 when civil registration started, although many still continued to transcribe their registers for quite some time.

Bishops transcripts can be useful as they are effectively a second record to the original parish record. Sadly many parish records have not survived so finding an original transcript might answer some questions. Also Bishops Transcripts were not used as much as parish records so their survival rate is much higher.

There is a gap in the Bishops Transcripts like most Diocesan records; the Commonwealth period (1648-1660) these were abolished until the Restoration along with other Diocesan authorities.

Many Bishop Transcripts can be found at local record centres or family history centres. Most record centres will have the transcripts on microfiche but you might lucky enough to handle the original transcripts.