When Can You Find English Parish Registers Now?

In the last 25 years, it has become a rule that all parish registers that are over 150 years old must be donated to a local record office for safe keeping and to preserve the information for future generations.

It is rare, but still occasionally happens that a parish register is stolen and the thief tries to sell the book on the black market, usually for a huge price. Collectors will pay a great deal of money for church records and some of the registers that seem to be lost may be in their hands.

In the record office, which is usually in the main county town, the parish registers are kept in carefully controlled climatic conditions to prevent them from deteriorating further. Some are in very poor condition when they are donated by the church after being kept in a damp vestry for many years. Original registers are only brought out for research, study or transcription but many have been microfilmed and these copies are available for all to use.

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