Somerset Church Records

England Somerset  Church Records

Parish Registers
There is a great index to many of the Church of England parishes in south and west Somerset. It is called Dr. Campbell's Index. This index was created by Dr. Neville Campbell. It is available at the Somerset Records Office. It has also been microfilmed and is available at the Family History Library or can be ordered at any Family History Center. For a list of the film numbers,.

The Somerset Records Office website includes a brief description of this index under #16, which states, "Index, by surname, of baptisms and marriages in the parishes of South and West Somerset, as far east as Martock, Ilminster, Langport, etc, from beginning of registers to 1899. Excludes Minehead, Taunton, Wilton, Wellington, and Bridgwater, and marriages covered by Phillimore's Somerset Marriages (15 vols, 1898-1915)" For a listing of the parishes and the dates of coverage for this index click here.

Available Databases
[Guide to Somerset parish register transcripts online.


 * wsom-opc.org.uk/ -- The main website for the Somerset Online Parish Clerk project


 * freereg.rootsweb.com/ -- A free service offering transcripts of parish registers in Somerset (incomplete but useful)

At findmypast (£)--


 * Somerset Marriages. 146,765 entries. Coverage.
 * Somerset Marriages (post-1754). 184,710 entries. Coverage.

15,956 Somerset entries are included in England &amp; Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 at Ancestry (£). Formerly known as British Isles Vital Records Index - 2nd Ed. Coverage.

244 Somerset parishes are indexed in Joiner's Marriage Index (£). Coverage.

Burials from 506 Somerset places (755,063 entries) are included in the National Burial Index (£). Coverage.


 * Somersetshire Parishes: A Handbook of Historical Reference to All Places in the County by Arthur L. Humphreys provides an overview of what records survive for each parish.