Chard, Somerset Genealogy

England Somerset



Parish History
Chard St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish in the Crewkerne Deanery of the Diocese of Baath and Wells in the county of Somerset.

Other places in the parish include: Crim Chard, Crimchard, Forton, Tatworth with Perry Street, South Chard, South Chard with Chilson and Perry Street, Tatworth, and Old Chard.

St Mary the Virgin dates from the late 11th century and was rebuilt in the 15th century. The tower contains two bells dating from the 1790s and made by Thomas Bilbie of the Bilbie family in Cullompton.The three-stage tower has moulded string courses and an angle stair turret in the north west corner. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.

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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts 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

Parish registers for Chard, 1540-1900 Microreproduction of original records housed at the Somerset Record Office, Taunton The chapelry of Tatworth is in the parish of Chard. Somerset Record Office: D/P CHARD 2/1/1-11, 17-27, 2/2/1-4, 9

Bishop's transcripts for Chard, 1603-1825 Microreproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Somerset Record Office, Taunton. Somerset Record Office: D/D/Rr 84-84a

Known Issues
England Vital Records Index (FamilySearch Historical Records) known issue Indexing project batch I04481-4 is incorrect. The data entry for place names is incorrect for film 1526463 and affects the parishes of Charlton Mackrell, Somerset, Charlcombe, Somerset,   Charlton Adam, Somerset,   Charlton Horethorne, Somerset

Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Somerset 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
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.