The present registers of baptisms commence in 1674, of Marriages 1681, and burials in 1679. Till the beginning of the last century they were irregularly kept, and in one of them all the leaves from 1741 to 1767 have been cut out. The Rev. John Hellins in 1800 states, in a memorandum, that he received this register in 1793 in that condition.

Bridges history of Northamptonshire (page 317 vol I) states that the register in his time began “in 1597”.

I am in the process of transcribing the St Nicholas Parish records, Potterspury. Should anyone wish a search to be carried out please email webmaster@potterspury.org.uk with a subject of SEARCH (uppercase) and I will try and response as quickly as I can.

Many people have also donated information which will be placed online for the assistance to others.

General Parish Registers

Parish registers were started in England in 1538. A law was passed ordering the clergy to record baptisms, marriages and burials, and that they should be written down in a book after the service on Sundays, and in the presence of the Churchwardens. Before this date there were no records, except for a few created by monks who recorded the events for prominent families. Many churches, however, did not begin keeping records until a further notice was sent out in 1558, and even then, many did not comply.

In 1597, Queen Elizabeth I decreed at all existing records should be copied into "fair parchment books, at least from the beginning of this reign". There was considerable opposition. Many churches complained that they could not afford parchment books, others began the task, some started with the 1558 records, some omitted large sections as the task was too large, and some did not start at all.

Some of the early 1538 records (re-written in 1597) still exist, but it is not at all unusual for the registers not to have been preserved. Many were lost, and it is quite common to find no preserved records for a parish until a much later date.

Most of the parish registers are now stored in a County Record Office, although a few are still in the individual churches.

Over time, more information was recorded in the parish registers. The table below shows the main milestones.

Page Modified: 21 October 2001