Parish Registers

Dating from 1538 when Cromwell, at the Court of Henry VIII, ordered that every wedding, baptism and burial should be recorded. Early records were made on paper but from 1558 parchment was used, and the older records were supposed to have been copied, although some never were and have been lost. From 1597 a second copy had to be made and sent to the Bishop - these transcripts are often in better condition and written more legibly. There may be gaps in Parish Registers between 1553 and 1558 and the Catholic Mary Tudor was on the throne, and between 1642 and 1660 during the English Civil War and Commonwealth.

These records cover all the Baptism, Marriages and Burials that have been extracted from various parish registers, mainly from Essex and some from Greater London and Cambridgeshire. I've tried to keep the errors to a minimum. Please use them as a guide only and verify them against the originals held at the various Record Offices.

It is far from complete, however there are over 300 records available for searching. At the moment, marriages are not available. These will be added when time permits.

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