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Parish Registers

A parish is the catchment area of a church belonging to the Established Church, and usually equates to a particular village in rural areas, or neighbourhood in urban areas. Parish registers are the most important resource for the genealogist before 1837 because almost all baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded.

Registers were started by law in 1538 but many survive only from around 1600. Second copies of the register called Bishops Transcripts, had to be made from 1598 and these were sent to the Bishop of the Diocese.

Originals are usually at County or City Record Offices, and some libraries have copies. Nonconformist (Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist,Quaker, Roman Catholic etc.) are usually in local record offices or at churches. Some libraries may have copies.

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