Parish registers

What are they?

Parish registers are volumes kept in parish churches to record baptisms, marriages and burials which have taken place in that parish. They were first introduced in 1538, but only a few registers survive from that early date. Microfiche copies of all surviving parish registers for Nottinghamshire up to 1950 are available at Nottinghamshire Archives, while some libraries have fiche copies of the registers for their local area, again up to 1950. An alphabetical finding list of parishes is available on the Nottinghamshire Archives web pages.

How to use them

Parish registers are, generally, not indexed, but the fiche copies have contents lists which tell you which fiche to check. You will need to know the approximate date of the baptism, marriage or burial you are searching for. Parish Registers only contain baptisms, marriages or burials for Anglican (C of E) churches. If you want details of a baptism, marriage or burial after 1950 you need to contact Nottinghamshire Archives or the church itself. All parish registers are handwritten and the early ones can sometimes be difficult to read.