East Grinstead, Sussex Genealogy

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

Parish History
GRINSTED, EAST (St. Swithin), a market-town and parish, the head of a union, and formerly a representative borough, in the hundred of East Grinsted, rape of Pevensey, E. division of Sussex, 19¾ miles (N.) from Lewes, and 30 (S. by E.) from London.

East Grinstead St Swithin (sometimes Swithun) is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Sussex. Other places in the parish include: Ashurst, Burliegh Arches Manor, and Clarkes Manor.

St Swithun church history The church of St Swithun has been designated as a grade B listed Building British listed building East Grinstead church history introduction List of demolished worship places in West Sussex

From the Ancient parish the following were formed:

St Mary church history

St Barnabas Sunnyside

St Luke Stone Quarry

East Grinstead Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC)

See also East Grinstead Wikipedia for history of the Anglican Church development in the town and the four churches.

Ashurst Wood St Dunstan Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC)

Also A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 344-347. here

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.

For civil registration history see East Grinstead registration district Certificates may be obtained from East Sussex The Register Office Town Hall Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4UG Phone01323 464780 Fax 01323 431386 email eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

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)

Poor Law Unions
East Grinstead 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