Feltwell, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Feltwell, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
FELTWELL (St. Mary and St. Nicholas), consolidated parishes, in the union of Thetford, hundred of Grimshoe, W. division of Norfolk, 6 miles (N. W.) from Brandon.

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Norfolk Record Office.

Genealogy From Periodicals
Whitmore, Elizabeth. Family Fortunes - Don't Forget the Wives. Description of the family of William Whitmore, and Dorothy Batterby, and his partner Frances Cook and descendants, including a Family Tree dating from 1661-1970, with surnames Horn, Rutland, Caney, Tuddenham, Miller, Morris and Dixon. The descendants moved from Shouldham, to Feltwell, Brandon Suffolk, and Grimsby Lincs. Article in The Norfolk Ancestor, new series vol. 2, pt. 9, pages 553-555. Family History Library Ref. 942.61 B2j new ser. v2, pt 9.

Poor Law Unions
Thetford Poor Law Union

See also England Norfolk Poor Law Union Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Websites

 * Feltwell on GenUKI
 * Parish Info
 * More Parish Info
 * St Nicholas Feltwell Churches Conservation trust
 * British Listed building
 * Feltwell Vision of Britain
 * History of St Mary church Friends of St. Mary's Feltwell
 * Feltwell Norfolk Churches website.
 * Feltwell Methodist Church