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Parish Records
These
are the chief sources of information for the family historian prior to the introduction
of civil registration in 1837; parish registers have been kept since 1538. Since
1598 copies of register entries had to be made annually and deposited with the
Bishop of the Diocese; these copies are known as Bishop's Transcripts (BT's).
Information may vary greatly; some registers show little more than lists of
names for those baptised, married or buried, and the dates; others show more
detail, including occupation, cause of death, bastardy etc.
Coverage is variable as many registers have been lost or destroyed; in addition to lost registers, there are also problems arising from failure to make entries, variant spellings, omission of details and also the keeping of registers and records kept by the Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist Churches.
It is possible, however, that if the original register is faulty, the clerk's original notebooks and Bishop's Transcripts may help.
Original registers and BTs are usually kept in the Lancashire Record Office, but main libraries have microfiche copies of Church of England registers and transcriptions in the Lancashire Parish Register Society volumes among others.
For more information about holdings of parish registers, please see the 'Guide to Lancashire Local Studies and Family History Collections' (Section 10). Some of the printed transcripts of parish registers will also be found in our book catalogue