Church of England, and Non conformists.

Our Beloved Norfolk is one of the largest counties in the country. It consisted of 33 Hundreds, (districts), and within those Hundreds were 710 Ancient Parishes. Some 452 of these Parish registers are, I understand, extant. All of these records are either deposited in the Norfolk Record Office in Norwich, or cared for by the individual parish church in a suitable environment.

Please remember the records are owned by the Church of England and we are privileged to be allowed to use them. The Norfolk Record Office has recently carried out a large filming of the parish registers, which they hold, and they can be purchased.

All the transcriptions on site are from the Church of England records.

But please note if you have problems finding a missing relative the Non – conformist records are available for various years in many different locations, the NRO, the British Library, The Guildhall Library, and the PRO. The NFHS in Norwich has some transcripts and is a Society well worth joining, as they have the largest holdings of transcription for Parish Registers in Norfolk.. The NFHS has published several of these non-conformist Transcriptions. These cover some Peculiar Baptist records, Mattishall & Dereham Congregational registers and Mattishall and Watton Primitive Methodist.

A very good description of the various Non conformist records can be found in the National Index of Parish Registers published by the Society of Genealogists based in London. Known as the NIPR, this book is available in most libraries.

Hope this small explanation helps the beginner.

Honor Jones