Court of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury

England Suffolk  Suffolk Probate Records

To read a general explanation of probates in England, click here. Click to read a definition of archdeaconry.

Jurisdiction
This court had jurisdiction over West Suffolk with the addition of Stow and Hartismere Deaneries in East Suffolk (to 1837 only).

It also had jurisdiction over those parishes in Cambridgeshire in the jurisdiction of the Court of the Archdeaconry of Norfolk, namely:

Also, after 1837 only (when the Archdeaconry of Sudbury was transferred to the Diocese of Ely), the Cambridgeshire parishes in the Deanery of Camps, namely:

A list of parishes in the Archdeaconry in 1837 is given in S. Tymms' Wills and Inventories from the Registers of the Commissary of Bury St. Edmunds and the Archdeaconry of Sudbury published in the Old Series by the Camden Society.

Records
The original records for this court are housed at the Suffolk Record Office - Bury St. Edmunds. They include:


 * Original wills, 1424-1652, 1660-1857
 * Register copy wills, 1439-1652/3, 1660-1857
 * Administrations, 1660-1857 (with minor gaps)
 * Admon act books, 1544-1546, 1568-1573, 1577-1593, 1605-1612, 1630-1652/3, 1660-1858
 * Inventories, 1573-1576, 1617, 1625, 1640, 1650, 1652, 1660-1747

The Family History Library has the following records on film. Films can be view in the library or in a family history center.


 * Original wills, 1429-1857; misc. papers including probate inventories, ca. 1734-1858; act books, 1577-1596, 1842-1858
 * Probate records, 1354-1857; indexes, 1520-1857; probate inventories, 1573-1817
 * Wills and inventories from the registers of the commissary of Bury St. Edmunds and the archdeacon of Sudbury
 * The wills of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury

Indexes
The Family History Library has copies of the following indexes.


 * Index to noted wills &amp; administrations
 * Indexes, 1520-1857
 * An index to wills, administrations and other testamentary records registered in monastic or commissary courts of Bury S. Edmunds or the Archdeaconry Court of Sudbury, Suffolk compiled by T.K. Crossfield
 * Calendar of wills, 1354-1535, complied by Vincent Burrough Redstone.