Early Parish Records

Any family historian who is skilful and lucky enough to have traced their family history to pre civil registration dates - that being 1837 when it became law to register all births, marriages and deaths - will have delved into parish records.  Many of the very early parish records do not exist anymore but luckily we have Bishop's Transcripts which are copies of the originals.

From 1598, each incumbent was also obliged to copy his register every year and send it to the Bishop of the Diocese under which his parish fell; most of Somerset parishes belonged to the Diocese of Wells. These copies are known as Bishop's Transcripts. The churchwardens were to send to the Diocesan Registrar, within one month of Easter each year, this copy of all the register entries for the preceding year. 

Lets be thankful to those Bishop's that transcribed those early parish records as many no long exist.  Below gives a brief history as to how parish records came into existence and more to the point, how they vanished.

Extract from 'The History of the Church and Village of Spaxton'. M.J. Odlum

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