What Is The History Of Parish Registers?

Henry VIII introduced legislation in 1538 requiring parishes to record registers of baptisms, marriages and burials.  There were some parish registers before this date and which still survive today.

The first registers were kept on paper in leather bound books and the quality of the paper was generally not good and many did disintegrate over the years under some of the damp and poor conditions they were kept.

In 1597 Elizabeth I passed a law that they should now be kept on vellum or parchment which was much stronger and stored in a locked chest.  She also decreed that the old paper volumes be transferred onto parchment and vellum.  Most parishes however only completed this back to her succession year of 1558.

In 1597 a copy of all registers also had to be sent to the local bishop.  These are known as Bishop's Transcripts and may in some cases be the only surviving copy should you want to look up your ancestors.