Clerkenwell St James, Middlesex Genealogy

England   Middlesex  Middlesex Parishes  Clerkenwell St James

Parish History
Clerkenwell, parish., Middlesex, within Finsbury parl. bor., London, 380 ac. Clerkenwell, par., Middlesex, within Finsbury parl. bor., London, 380 ac.

'St. James Clerkenwell (1551) was an ancient parish...formerly the [mother] parish of several chapels within its boundaries. It had ..."distinct parochial district[s] attached, and...is subdivided into [several]"'. ..chapels. One of the larger ones was St John the Baptist, St John Square, Clerkenwell, which was a chapel of ease within the ancient parish of St James Clerkenwell. It was created as part of the Building Act previous to when it began operation--the year 1723.

The following chapels and chapelries were attached to St James Clerkenwell Parish:


 * Holy Redeemer - 1882
 * St James, Pentonville - 1790
 * St John the Baptist, St. John Sq. - 1723
 * St Mark, Myddleton Sq. - 1834
 * St Mary - dissolved to become St James Clerkenwell
 * St Paul, Pear Tree St, Clerkenwell - 1865
 * St Peter, Smithfield Martyrs Church – 1871
 * St Peters
 * St Philip, Granville Square - 1834
 * St Silas, Penton Street, Pentonville - 1866

Clerkwell had as well a number of nonconformist denominations within its boundary, including meeting-houses for Baptists, Society of Friends, Independents (Congregationlists), and Wesleyan and other Methodists chapels (of which one was St James Spafields New Connecion Methodist and, one of which was a Welsh-speaking chapel).

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.

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

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. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

1666 Hearth Tax

 * Hearth Tax: Middlesex 1666: Clerkenwell at British History Online - free.

1693-1694 Four Shilling in the Pound Aid

 * St James Clerkenwell at British History Online - free.

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

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

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

 * Sketch of St James Clerkenwell Parish Church, courtesy: London Ancestor.