Search Results

Detailed search results

PR343 - Winsley St. Nicholas

Level	Series
Title	Registers
Description	Parish registers of baptism, marriage and burial are kept by every parish church (beginning in 1538 where registers survive). Digital copies of parish registers are available and searchable on Ancestry.co.uk. Registers of more recent date than 100 years are not available online but can be viewed at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre (where they have not been retained by the church). Indexed transcripts of parish registers up to 1837 produced by Wiltshire Family History Society can be found in hard copy in the History Centre search room (and are also available on Find My Past).
Administrative History	Before 1894 parishes had responsibility for both civil and ecclesiastical matters having taken on greater responsibility for civil functions previously under the jurisdiction of manors. In 1894 the Local Government Act reformed local government and created civil parish councils which took over responsibility for the secular duties of the parish. Responsibility as the formal administrative unit responsible for relief of the poor lay with the parish following the 1601 Poor Relief Act. The next most significant change in poor relief was the 1834 Poor Law amendment Act which formed Poor Law Unions from groups of parishes managed by an elected Board of Guardians. For records of Poor Law Unions see catalogues H1-19) Powers were then transferred to local councils following acts of 1926, 1927 and 1929. Note that some post-1894 material now falling under the responsibility of civil parish councils may appear within parish collections (the relevant parish council collection makes note of this where instances occur).

Record