Heathfield, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex     Sussex Parishes

Parish History
HEATHFIELD (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Hailsham, hundred of Hawkesborough, rape of Hastings, E. division of Sussex, 9 miles (E. S. E.) from Uckfield; There is a place of worship for Independents.

Heathfield All Saints is an Ancient Parish and market town in the Wealden district of East Sussex which included Heathfield Common, Punnetts Town, Cade Street, Street End, and Runtington. The original village of Old Heathfield has been absorbed into the town.

From the Ancient Parish the following were formed:

Heathfield St Richard

Heathfield St George Broad Oak

For history of all 3 churches Heathfield parishes

The parish church of All Saints Church Street Heathfield has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building

Heathfield Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC)

See also Heathfield East Sussex Wikipedia

St Richard Heathfield was formed in 1915 from this parish

In 1886 the Gilbert Memorial Independent Baptist Chapel (now known as the Welcome Evangelical Baptist Church Heathfield) was opened.

The Union Church High Street Heathfield opened in 1899-1900 and is now a Baptist/Congregational Church.

St Catherine (Roman Catholic) Heathfield is part of the Parish of Burwash in Rother District and dates from 1953.

King's Church is an Evangelical church in Heathfield.

a list of places to worship in Wealden Wikipedia

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 Hailsham registration district Certificates may be obtained from East Sussex,The Register Office, Town Hall, Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4UG Phone 01323 464780Fax 01323 431386 email eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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.

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

Aliases - Morris alias Horshall of Ashburnham. Two families with the same surname in the same area may not be related. Using parish registers from Ashburnham and Heathfield, three pedigree charts have been assembled. Surnames are Morris, Andrews, Martin, Colebrand, Levett, Vanier, Eastland, Horshall, Bramley, Wood, Weeks. Years covered 1543-1801. Article to be found in Sussex Family Historian, Vol. #7. Dec. 1974 pages 188-191, and is held at the Family History Library, Ref. 942.25 B2su

Census records
FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

to locate local Family History Centres in UK

to locate outside UK. Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

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

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. 

Poor Law Unions
Hailsham 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