Wivelsfield, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex  Sussex Parishes



Parish History
WIVELSFIELD (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Chailey, partly in the hundred of Street, rape of Lewes, and partly in that of BurleyArches, rape of Pevensey, East division of Sussex, four miles South East from Cuckfield. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Wivelsfield and adjacent Wivelsfield Green are part of the civil parish of Wivelsfield in the Lewes District of East Sussex Wivelsfield Wikipedia

Wivelsfield is an Ecclesiastical Parish created by 1773 from a chapelry in Ditchling, Sussex Ancient Parish

The history of the church is available at Sussex Parish Churches Wivelsfield St Peter and St John the Baptist

The parish church of St Peter and St John the Baptist has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building

Wivelsfield Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Other places of worship include

Bethel Chapel (Baptist) Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints dates from 2002 Ote Hall Chapel Countess of Huntingdon Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) St George's Retreat (Chapel)

See also list of places of worship in Lewes district

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.

From 1837 this parish was in Lewes Registration District Certificates may be obtained from East Sussex The Register Office Town Hall Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4UG Phone: 01323 464780 Fax: 01323 431386 Email:eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

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

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records.

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

to locate local Family History Centres in UK

to locate outside UK. Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search.

Poor Law Unions
Chailey Poor Law Union, Sussex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Sussex 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