Santon Downham, Suffolk Genealogy

Parish History
SANTON-DOWNHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Thetford, hundred of Lackford, W. division of Suffolk, 2¾ miles (E. N. E.) from Brandon Ferry.

Santon Downham St Mary is an Ancient parish in the county of Suffolk. It is situated in the village and this became the main settlement of the village which is on the edge of Thetford Forest and it forms the county border with Norfolk.

It is not to confused with neighboring Santon, Norfolk which also has a parish and a tiny church reflecting it's status of a hamlet. Refer to the works listed in Suffolk Gazetteers or England Gazetteers for source material.

Resources
If you live in Suffolk you will have access to a variety of resources at local archives and libraries. For those who live further afield, one can access microfilm and online records at Family History Centres. Refer to Suffolk_in_the_FHL_Catalog and in the FamilySearch Catalogue for available records.

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.

Registration District:


 * Thetford 1837-1935
 * Newmarket 1935-

Church records
Prior to 1837 the parish was in the diocese of Norwich;post 1837 it was transferred to the Diocese of Ely.

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

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

Records are also available at the Suffolk Record Office.

Poor Law Unions
Thetford Poor Law Union

See also England Norfolk Poor Law Union Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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 Suffolk 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