Handlist of Parish Registers, Nonconformist Registers and Bishop's Transcripts held at Bristol Record Office

What's in the handlist?

This handlist gives the dates of the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials of all the Anglican (Church of England) parishes and nonconformist chapels and the Bishop's Transcripts (copies of the parish registers) held at Bristol Record Office.

This handlist is just a guide to which registers are held at Bristol Record Office and gives the covering dates only.  Please remember that this does not mean that the registers cover every year and there may be gaps.  There are large gaps in the coverage of many of the Bishop's Transcripts.

Please click on the link below to open the handlist as a separate PDF document.

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Parish Registers

We hold the registers and records of parishes in the City and Deanery of Bristol, later, Archdeaconry of Bristol which is part of the Diocese of Bristol and covers the city itself, a number of parishes in southern Gloucestershire, to the north and east of the city and just a few parishes in north Somerset.  We are lucky that the registers of some of the parishes we hold date back as far as 1538, when parish registers were first introduced.

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Bishop's Transcripts

We hold Bishop's Transcripts for the same area and for a number of Wiltshire parishes, following the transfer of the Cricklade and Malmesbury rural deaneries in 1837.  We  also hold microfiche copies of Bishop's Transcripts of a few parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

The Bishop's Transcripts are a useful substitute when the registers have not survived, for whatever reason, notably the Bristol parishes of St Peter, St Mary le Port, St Paul Bedminster and Temple, the registers and records of which were destroyed or damaged during the blitz of WW2.

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Nonconformist Registers

The registers and records that we hold for nonconformist chapels cover different areas.  For example, the records we hold for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clifton include registers not only for Bristol but also for Shepton Mallet and elsewhere in Somerset.  We also hold the records of most of the Methodist circuits in the Bristol area which, again, includes registers of chapels in Somerset such as those in Midsomer Norton and Cheddar.

We also hold registers and records for other nonconformist chapels including Baptist, Congregational, Unitarian and the Society of Friends (Quaker).

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How do I access the registers?

This handlist does not provide the contents of registers, you are most welcome to visit our searchroom to view them.  For details of our opening hours click here.  Most registers are available on microfiche or microfilm, whilst others must be ordered from our strongrooms.  Copies can be made of those registers that are on microfiche.  We do not photocopy original registers, but copies can be provided by our digitisation bureau.  Please contact us for more details.

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How do I get copies?

If you are unable to visit in person, would like a copy of an event in the registers and know the exact date and parish or chapel where it occurred, we are able to provide copies from registers that are available on microfiche by our express-copy-by-post service.

We regret that due to shortage of staff time we are unable to conduct detailed or protracted research on your behalf. So if you do not know where the event occurred, or have only a vague idea of the date of the event, you may have to employ a researcher to trace it for you if you are unable to visit yourself. Although we have previously been able to do this type of research in-house for an hourly fee, we regret that we have had to suspend this service until the end of 2008. Please click here for information about how to contact other researchers.

If you have any queries or would like a quote for a copy please email us bro@bristol.gov.uk or write to us:

Bristol Record Office
B Bond Warehouse
Smeaton Road
Bristol
BS1 6XN

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