Oxnead, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
OXNEAD (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Aylsham, hundred of South Erpingham, E. division of Norfolk, 4 miles (S. E.) from Aylsham.

Oxnead St Michael is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Norwich.

Oxnead is named for its site on meadows beside a river known to the Britons and Saxons as the Ouse. At the time of the Domesday survey, the estate belonged to Halden and altogether was worth 30 shillings. It was seven furlongs long and six broad and included a church with twenty-four acres of glebe land. At the time of King Stephen, Oxnead belonged to Albert Greslei, from whom it passed to the Hauteyn family. Around 1368, the estate was acquired by Sir Robert de Salle. After Sir Robert’s death, his widow’s second husband, Sir William Clopton, took control of Oxnead and in the 1420s it was sold to William Paston, of Paston.

The church is mostly thirteenth-century and built of flint with stone dressings. However, there are several later additions in brick, dating from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, such as the top of the tower, two porches and a stepped east gable.

Inside, there is a monument to Sir Clement Paston (1515-1597). This is a tomb-chest featuring his recumbent effigy and a kneeing figure of his wife, Lady Alice. There is also a monument to Lady Katherine Paston, wife of Sir William (1610-1663), who died in childbirth in 1637. This work is by the celebrated Jacobean sculptor Nicholas Stone. The church also includes a seventeenth century font.

Onead is now a lost settlement in Norfolk, England, roughly three miles south-east of Aylsham. It now consists mostly of St Michael’s Church and Oxnead Hall. It was the principal residence of the Paston family from 1597 until the death of William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth in 1732. Under Sir William Paston (1610-1663), Oxnead was the site of several works by the architect and sculptor, Nicholas Stone, master-mason to Kings James I and Charles I.

The church survives detached and isolated from parishioners in a rural setting.

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.


 * Aylsham 1837-1938
 * Norwich Outer 1939-1974
 * Norwich

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

Images of the parish register for this parish are available at FamilySearch Historical Records.

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 161

Parish registers for Oxnead Microfilm copy of original filmed at the Norfolk Record Office, Central Library in Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Baptisms, burials, 1574-1780; marriages, 1578-1752. Baptisms, burials, 1784-1812. Marriages, 1756-1811; marriage banns, 1756-1825. Marriages, 1813-1834. Marriages, 1838-1908. Marriage banns, 1828-1889. FHL BRITISH Film 1911576 Items 10 - 15

Archdeacons transcripts Microfilm copies of original records in the Norfolk Record Office, Central Library, Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Baptisms 1630-1633, 1668, 1720-1812 Marriages 1623, 1721-1811 Burials 1623-1633, 1669-1677, 1720-1811 FHL BRITISH Film 1526780 Item 12

See also

England Norfolk Church of England Parish Registers and Bishops’ Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Census records
Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

Poor Law Unions
Aylsham Poor Law Union

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

Web sites
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/oxnead-st-michael-all-angels/ for information about the parish

http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/oxnead.htm for description of the history of the parish

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78283 British History Online

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/oxnead/oxnead.htm Norfolk Churches