Parish Records

Parishes in England have been keeping records since 1538. Most of them are not comprehensive from the beginning and there are gaps, especially during times of civil disturbance, such as the civil war and the following period of the Commonwealth, 1645-60. During these years a special official was appointed, known as the parish register. He was responsible for recording births, baptisms, deaths and burials.

Early registers can be confusing for beginners. Some are in Latin, and although they were kept in date order they do not usually separate births from marriages and deaths. Also the details they give can be meagre; e.g. baptism registers will have the name of one or if lucky both parents but no details of occupations or addresses; marriage registers will give the names, but not the ages or occupations of the parties, and burial registers again provide the name but not necessarily the age occupation or place where the deceased lived.

Also the registers only give the date of the services performed by the church. What this means is that they will give the date of baptism but not necessarily the date of birth for a person and likewise the date of burial, but not the date of death.

The introduction of standardised printed forms for marriages in 1754 and 1837 and for baptisms and burials in 1812 meant that records became more uniform and as a result, simpler to view.

Some of the entries the department has available also contain details of Banns spoken in the church. Banns are similar to an engagement. They are called three weeks before a marriage and are basically an announcement of the intention of the two parties involved to wed.

The following is a list of the Anglican parish registers in the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council area available for viewing on microfilm or microfiche:

The department also holds some transcripts and indexes for these parishes and certain other parishes outside the BMBC area. Full details are available either by visiting the department or from the Family History Handbook.