Feltwell, Norfolk Genealogy

Norfolk

Parish History
Feltwell has two churches Feltwell St Nicholas and Feltwell St Mary the Virgin. St Mary is used throughout the summer months and for all major services, and St Nicholas during the winter months, since it is easier to heat. Most funeral services are held in the Church of St, Nicholas.

The Parish Church of St. Mary stands in the centre of Feltwell Village. The exact date of the origin of the Church is not known, but since the oldest part of the building, the Chancel, is in the Decorated Style of Architecture, which prevailed about 1275 to 1375, then it is safe to assume that St. Mary's is six hundred years old or more.

St. Mary's achieved historical mention, though hardly laudable, in 1602, in the list of Ruined and Decayed Churches in the Deanery of "ffyncham and Cranwich". The Church was subsequently repaired in 1834 when Feltwell had less than three hundred houses. Some years later, in 1862, the north aisle was rebuilt and the building generally enlarged to its present dimensions

Historically the parish was in the Diocese of Norfolk but is now one of the deanery of Fincham and Feltwell in the Diocese of Ely.

RAF Feltwell
A former Second World War bomber station, the base is used as a housing estate for United States Air Force personnel stationed nearby at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, while also containing the Mathies Airman Leadership School for USAF personnel in the UK, as well as being the home of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service's sole furniture store in the country. It also houses the only Middle School for Lakenheath and Mildenhall, which covers most of the base.

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.


 * Thetford 1837-1938
 * Downham 1939-1974

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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

Norfolk Record Office reference Feltwell St Mary PD 432/1-4, 9-13, 15-20

St Nicholas PD432/5-7

the two parishes form combined registers after 1812

Images of the register may be viewed online at FamilySearch historic record collections (formerly Record Search)

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/Church_Pages/feltwell.htm for images of the church and Baptisms transcript Norfolk Baptisms project

Feltwell Methodist Church

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

http://www.btinternet.com/~e.c.apling/1891Census/Feltwell.htm transcript of 1891 census

Poor Law Unions
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Thetford/Thetford.shtml

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 Norfolk 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
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/feltwell-st-mary/ for information about the parish also http://www.feltwell.co.uk/today/st_marys.htm

http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/findachurch/st-nicholas-feltwell/?region=Norfolk Churches Conservation trust

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-221744-church-of-st-mary-feltwell British Listed building

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=2261&amp;st=feltwell Vision of Britain

http://friendsofstmarysfeltwell.co.uk/ChurchHistory/tabid/181/Default.aspx History of St Mary church

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/feltwellstn/feltwellstn.htm Norfolk Churches website.

http://www.westnorfolkmethodists.org.uk/churches/feltwell Feltwell Methodist Church