Most of our Church of England parish registers 1538 to 1987 (baptisms to 1912, marriages to 1937 and burials to 1987) are now available to search and view online on and . More parish registers from 1900 onwards, recently deposited registers and more early registers will be added later. Ancestry and Findmypast can be used free of charge by ßÙßÇÂþ» Libraries members in all ßÙßÇÂþ» Libraries and at ßÙßÇÂþ» History Centre.
ßÙßÇÂþ» parishes lie in three different dioceses: Guildford, Southwark and London.
Parish records from the Diocese of Guildford (which includes a small part of Hampshire) and from a large part of the Diocese of Southwark (all except the South London and Sutton section) are the responsibility of ßÙßÇÂþ» History Centre. To protect the original registers, searchers are normally required to use microfilms or transcripts when these are available. Print-out facilities are available. Short, specific queries can be answered by letter or e-mail. Before you visit, please contact us to confirm that the parish records you are interested in have been deposited, as they may be still at the parish.
Guide to parish registers held at ßÙßÇÂþ» History Centre
The inner London part of Southwark Diocese (the present London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark including Newington, and Wandsworth) is served by . Bishop's Transcripts for parishes in both dioceses are also held there, with other records of the Archdeaconry of ßÙßÇÂþ», but survival of the Bishop's Transcripts is poor.
Parish registers for the Diocese of London (which includes parishes in the present Borough of Spelthorne, transferred from Middlesex to ßÙßÇÂþ» in 1965) are also held at .
At the ßÙßÇÂþ» History Centre we hold indexes to the registers of a number of individual parishes, and general county-wide indexes which have been compiled by local family history societies.
Image
St Margaret's Church, Ockley, circa 1830s, artist unknown (reference 9043/2/23/2)