West Sussex County Council: Parish Registers

The Parish Registers of the Church of England are the basic resource for the family historian before 1837, because the parish church recorded baptisms, marriages and burials, and, from 1754 onwards, banns of marriage. If you know which parish your family came from, there is a good chance of finding them.

The registers were started under an Act of Parliament in 1538, but not all registers survive from that date, and many gaps exist, especially during the period of the Civil War and Commonwealth 1642-1660. However, for the period from approximately 1700 to approximately 1850, a very full series survives for almost every parish. List of Parishes (PDF Format, 43 pages, 216 Kb)

If you need to consult a register, you are asked to make use of microfiche and microfilm wherever possible, or failing that, Bishops Transcripts, in order to save the originals from wear. Most of the parish registers for the whole of West Sussex before 1900 are available on microfiche. It is also possible to buy copies of parish registers on microfiche. Most of the registers are also available in the searchroom on microfilm and this includes 1900 onwards.

Modern Transcripts are generally easier to read than the originals and more orderly, and some may have indexes attached. They often have the advantages of combining information from both parish registers and Bishops Transcripts, and of being easily accessible on the open shelves.

Staff in the searchroom are very happy to help you read the more difficult words in the early parish registers. This website also has a table of examples of old handwriting in alphabetical order (PDF Format, 1 page, 111Kb) (reproduced by courtesy of Essex Record Office).