Introduction

 Parish registers began in 1538 and contained a few brief details, they where generally written in Latin and  usually done after the weekly service. Look at the following extract.

Settrington Parish Register

Latin - 1628  Xpoferus filius Xpoferi Wasling baptizatus fuit tricesimo die maij
English translation - 1628 Christopher son of Christopher Wasling baptised 30th day of may

In the early days, events could be jotted down on a loose sheet of paper which where later lost or destroyed.  In 1597 it was ordered that the recording of events should go into bound books and copies be sent to the Bishop (thus being Bishops Transcripts or BT's).

Elizabeth I decreed that all existing records should be copied into parchment books, at least from the beginning of her reign, but there was much resistance to this as parchment books where expensive and not all Parishes could afford them, hence some records got copied, others didn't.  There are many missing registers, but sometimes you will find that BT's have survived, be aware that these records could be wrong, I have come across many mistakes where entries have been incorrectly transcribed from Parish register to BT!

Time line - Parish Registers

In some of the registers you might be lucky to find entries like some I found in the Wintringham Parish Register, I've underlined the extra detail.

• William Wasling sonne of Robert of Wintringham baptised the viij day of march 1614
• John Wasling the sonne of Robert of Wintringham maryed Petronell Micklefield xxviijth June anno dmo 1620
• Richard Hodgson of place Newton and Jane Hodgson of Wintringham were solemnley married at Ryton the second day of June 1657 by me in ye p'sence of these witnesses. Timothy Waslynge Robert Waslynge John Hodgson Chr: Percehay Willm Dring Pishe Register of Wintringham
• John the sonne of Robert Waslinge of Knapton was bur: xxij of January 1663

Bishops transcrips are sometimes an easier source to read than the original Parish register, some Parish registers have been put into print, these may be available at your local library, however I would always suggest that anything taken from an index or BT is checked wherever possible against the original Parish record.