Sompting, Sussex Genealogy

Guide to Sompting, Sussex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
SOMPTING, a parish, in the union of Steyning, hundred of Brightford, rape of Bramber, W. division of Sussex, 4 miles (W. by N.) from Shoreham. The church is a cruciform structure, principally in the early English style, with a tower at the west end, and contains a private chapel and an oratory, the latter of which is now used as a baptistery; the edifice was enlarged and repaired in 1828, and again in 1838. An hospital dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Anthony was founded at Cokeham, at an early period, by William Bernchius.

Sompting is a village and civil parish in the Adur district of West Sussex. Sompting Wikipedia

Sompting St Mary is an Ancient Parish which included Cokeham. The Church of the Blessed Virgin Sompting Wikipedia is unique in England in a Saxon tower with a four sided pyramid style Rhenish helm. The history of the church is available at Sussex Parish Churches Sompting St Mary

The Parish Church of St Mary Church Lane Sompting has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

Sompting Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

St Peter the Apostle's Church, a modern brick building in the Lower Cokeham area of Sompting, is within the parish. It was consecrated in 1966 and serves as a multi-purpose church hall as well as a place of worship.

St Paulinus (Roman Catholic) see List of demolished worship places in West Sussex This church was registered for marriages from 1941 until demolition in 1973 and Sussex Online Parish Clerks ( OPC)

See also list of places of worship in Adur Wikipedia

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

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 the Steyning Registration District until the 1935 reorganisation of registration services Certificates can be ordered from West Sussex Centralised Certificates Office Registration Service West Sussex Record Office County Hall Chichester PO19 1RN Phone: 01243 642122

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers -Sussex ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

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

Poor Law Unions
Steyning 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

Websites
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SSX/Sompting/