Church of England Parish Registers: Difference between revisions

A law passed in 1537 required ministers to record the baptisms, marriages, and burials that took place in their parishes by the following year (1538). Priests recorded these events in '''registers''' and kept them at the '''parish''' level, which is the lowest level of authority in the Church of England. Within some parishes, chapelries were created to provide for the worship needs of the parishioner when the parish church was not easily accessible. [[Chapelry (England)|Chapelries]] sometimes had the authority to perform baptisms, marriages, and burials, so they kept their own registers. Several parishes formed a [[Rural Deanery (England)|deanery]] (presided over by a dean), several deaneries formed an [[Archdeaconry (England)|archdeaconry]] (presided over by an archdeacon), and several archdeaconries formed a [[Diocese (England)|diocese]] (presided over by a bishop).

Most bishops’ transcripts of Church of England parish registers have been preserved. Many have also been copied to microfilm or microfiche. The condition of the records is relatively good considering their age and their storage conditions over the centuries. In 1598 ministers were required to copy their registers onto parchment. If the minister failed to make such a copy, the register for that parish and its records did not survive. During the Commonwealth period, 1649–1660, many parish registers disappeared and many transcripts were not kept because ministers were deposed from their parishes.