Fakenham, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Fakenham, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
FAKENHAM (St. Peter), a market-town and parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 25½ miles (N. W.) from Norwich. There are places of worship forBaptists, Independents, and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists. Fakenham St Peter and St Paul is an Ancient Parish in the Burnham deanery of the Diocese of Norwich.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.


 * Walsingham 1837-1938
 * Fakenham 1939-1974

The Register Office, Fakenham Connect, Oak Street, Fakenham, NR21 9SR. Tel: 01328 850111. E-mail: registration.fakenham@norfolk.gov.uk

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 204

Non-Conformist Church Records

 * 1613-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Genealogy From Periodicals
West, Rosalie. Matthew, Matthew, Wherefore Art Thou, Matthew? Family tree of Francis Langley and Martha Hutton married 1728, at Syderstone, with descendants spreading to Tattersett, East Rudham, Docking, and Ringstead, Wells and Fakenham. History gives details of the descendants, and the views of looking for Matthew. Surnames in the family tree are Secker, Sutton, Strike, Death, Sharp, Oughton, Claxton, Brown, Playford, Goll, Davey, Senter, Framingham, Jacob, Cremer Bussnett, and Langley. Dates range from 1728-1869 and the article is to be found in The Norfok Ancestor, old series vol.6.pt.1, pages 9-11, Family History Library Ref. 942.61 B2j old series vol 6. pt.1.

Wyer, Pat. Weavers and Windmills. Family tree of Thomas Wyer asnd Margaret nee Reve, his brother Edward and wife Joan nee Fitt, and brother William Wyer. Article dates from 1575-1917, and surnames of Fitt, Smith, Hardy, Sysely. They appear to be in Norwich, Fakenham, Carbrooke, and Caston. Article in The Norfolk Ancestor, old series, vol.3,pt3. page 30-33, Family History Library Ref. 942.61 B2j vol.3

Poor Law Unions
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Walsingham/

Walsingham Union was incorporated under the terms of the 1834 Act, and the union workhouse was built at Great Snoring, but not completed until 1838. The Walsingham Union Workhouse at Great Snoring was opened in 1838. It was situated close to the boundary between the parishes of Great Snoring and Thursford and was sometimes known as Thursford Workhouse. Poor Law Unions were abolished in 1930 and the responsibilities of Walsingham Union Board of Guardians were taken over by Norfolk County Council Guardians' Committee No. 7. From 1930 the former Workhouse became known as Walsingham Public Assistance Institution. On 26 and 27 June 1934 the remaining thirty inmates (including two infants but no children) were transferred to West Beckham and Gressenhall Institutions and Walsingham Institution officially closed on 30 June 1934. The building was subsequently adapted for use as a smallpox hospital. By 1976 the building was derelict and was demolished in the early 1990s. Acquisition Received by the Norfolk Record Office on 26 February 1982 (C/GP 19/192-198) and on unknown dates.

Copies C/GP19/1-6, 131, 133-135, 137, 141, 143-146, 148, 150-151, 173-181 are on microfilm. RelatedMaterial For records of Guardians Committee No. 7 (including the administration of Red House Children's Home in Little Snoring and the boarding-out of children), see C/GC 7. See Public Assistance Sub-Committee minutes, 11 July 1934 and 12 September 1934, C/C 10/455. The records of the County Architect's Department include plans of the alterations for use as a smallpox hospital dated February 1937, see C/AR 1/29-31. The one inch to one mile Ordnance Survey Map of 1954 designates the building 'smallpox hospital'.

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Norfolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites

 * Fakenham on GenUKI