Clippesby, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
CLIPPESBY (St. Peter), a parish, in the East and West Flegg incorporation, hundred of West Flegg, E. division of Norfolk, 3 miles (N. E.) from Acle. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Clippesby St Peter is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Norwich. Clippesby is believed to have Viking origins (indicated by the "by" ending to its name). At that time the settlement was bordered by the saltwater lagoon that existed before the sandspit where Great Yarmouth now stands formed to block the entrance to the North Sea. Subsequent drainage by windpumps created rich agricultural land upon which the settlement was largely dependent until recent years. There is an entry for Clippesby in the 1086 Domesday Book where it is recorded as Clepesbei.

The church of St. Peter's at Clippesby is thought to date from Saxon times. Curiously however there is no mention of it in the Domesday Book. The round tower is certainly of Saxon construction as is a small (now sealed) window, whereas the North doorway with its characteristic zig-zag moulding is Norman. The tower was augmented with an octagonal bell tower in the early 1900s. A tiny mass dial is located in the porch and dates from c.1400.

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.


 * Flegg 1837-1924
 * Yarmouth and Flegg 1925-1935
 * Fleggburgh 1936-1938
 * Acle 1939-1974
 * Norwich

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

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 289/ 1-5

This parish's registers do not appear on FamilySearch as no microfilm for the parish is held A search of the Family History Library Catalogue indicates that the following Archdeacon's transcripts are on film but these have not yet been converted to digital images for publication

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?Flegg/Flegg.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

 * Norfolk: Clippesby on GenUKI
 * Parish Info
 * St Peter Clippesby Church Photos