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Church Records information for Denchworth and places above it in the hierarchy

Denchworth

Berkshire

  • General information about church records.  
  • Parish Registers:  Before English & Welsh Civil Registration started in July 1837, baptisms, marriages and burials were only recorded by the churches in the Parish Registers. Births and deaths were not usually recorded as such. 
    • A useful guide to Berkshire Parish Registers from the Berkshire FHS.
    • Berkshire FHS provide a list of what Registers are available and from where. Some of this data is also searchable online by subscription at Find My Past.
    • RBA:
      • They hold the originals and microfilms of most Berkshire parish and non-parochial registers for baptisms/births, marriages, and burials/deaths. 
      • Their online guide to Parochial (i.e. Church of England) registers covers all parishes past and present in the Archdeaconry of Berkshire and parishes in the Archdeaconry of Buckinghamshire that are within the present Berkshire borders.  The English parish church was a key secular (as well as religious) institution until the Victorian period.  As part of local government, it was responsible for poor relief, running local charities, and even local roads and law enforcement.  As a result, the 'parish chest' contains a lot more than just the registers.  
      • The Non-Parochial registers cover non-Church of England baptisms, marriages and burials.  
      • Some of the RBA registers are also available in CD and fiche from  Berkshire FHS and partial coverage online from Findmypast, see Index to the Parish Registers below.
    • Maidenhead Library: the Brooks Collection: transcripts of registers for all Maidenhead parishes except Waltham St. Lawrence, and transcripts of registers for a number of other parishes in historic Berkshire, but not including Windsor, for the period from 1500s to 1837.  It is hoped that a full list of which registers are available at Maidenhead Library, will be online late 2013. 
    • Windsor Library:  St. John the Baptist, New Windsor only: Baptisms 1559–1837; Marriages: 1559–1837; Burials: 1560–1837; Index: 1559–1837.
    • OFHS publish data about the Parishes of north Berkshire (i.e., those parishes that were in historic Berkshire and are now in Oxfordshire):
    • The Eureka Partnership publish printed transcriptions of a number of Berkshire Non-Conformist baptism, marriage and burial records and Marriage Notices.  
  • Index to the Parish Registers:
    • The International Genealogical Index (IGI)  contains many, but not all, indexes to the records of 131 Berkshire towns and villages, and is a useful finding aid.  
      • Berkshire FHS guide.   
      • IGI Batch Numbers: It is not always easy to locate your ancestors in the IGI using their search. Manually typing in the batch numbers can be tedious. Hugh Wallis has created a database of those numbers and the source records that they apply to. A very powerful feature includes a hotlink from each batch number to the IGI search, including the ability to enter the surname you are looking for. This makes it very easy to search all the batches for a particular geographic location using just the last name.  See description from FamilySearch.
    • Berkshire FHS's Berkshire Baptisms CD contains indexed transcriptions of baptisms many parish and non-parochial registers.  Also subscription access online from Findmypast.  
    • Berkshire FHS's Berkshire Marriages CD contains indexed transcriptions of the marriages (both Anglican (Church of England) and nonconformist) in all pre-1974 Berkshire parishes. Those Berkshire FHS transcriptions of events more than 85 years old are also available online from Findmypast.  
    • Phillimore's marriages transcripts for Berkshire are sold on CD by Archive CD Books for most, but not all, parishes.
    • Some parishes that were in historic Berkshire and now in Oxfordshire are on the North Berkshire Marriage Index compiled by the OFHS.
    • Berkshire FHS's Berkshire Burials CD contains indexed transcriptions of over 900,000 burials.  Those transcriptions of events more than 50 years old are also available online from Findmypast.  Some are available for digtal download (which may be more economic than a CD if you are not interested in many parishes).  NOTE: inscriptions on gravestones (memorial inscriptions, MIs) are not the same as burial records, see Cemeteries.
    • FreeREG provides free online access to "baptism, marriage, and burial records, which have been extracted from parish registers, non-conformist records and other relevant sources in the UK".  Sadly only about 37000 out of 37 million records have been transcribed for Berkshire (as of 2022).
    • For deaths, see also Coroners Index below.
  • For post-July 1837 English & Welsh civil records of births, marriages and deaths, see Civil Registration.
  • Some other church records (e.g. records of meetings) are also held by the RBA and may be listed on the NRA.  
  • The Archdeaconry of Berkshire was part of the Diocese of Salisbury until 1836 when it was transferred to the Diocese of Oxford. As a result of this, Bishop's Transcripts and items, such as some wills, which came under the jurisdiction of the diocesan courts are found in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre or the Oxfordshire Record Office. There are three Peculiar jurisdictions.
  • Oxfordshire Archdeacon's Marriage Bonds index is available free online and, because of boundary and jurisdiction changes, contains some prospective Berkshire marriages.
  • Berkshire, Wiltshire and Dorset marriage licence bonds are available on CD from the Berkshire FHS shop. Contains details of 70,000 bonds of people expecting to get married in the Salisbury docese, including those living outside.
  • Map of the ecclesiastical parishes (not to be confused with administrative parishes) of 19th century Berkshire from Berkshire FHS.
  • A comprehensive listing of Parish Registers, Monumental Inscriptions and transcripts can be found in the National Index of Parish Registers Volume 8 Part 1 - Berkshire, 2nd edition, compiled by Anthony Wilcox and published by the Society of Genealogists in 2003 and available from the Berkshire FHS shop. 
  • Information on the location of Quaker Records in Berkshire provided by the Quaker FHS.
  • Parish register copies for Berkshire in the library of the Society of Genealogists.

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