Christchurch, Hampshire Genealogy

The town now known as Christchurch has existed since 650 and was was originally known as Twynham, from "tweon eam", meaning (the settlement) between two rivers. It was not until the construction of the priory in 1094 that the town became known as Christchurch.

Parish History
CHRISTCHURCH (Holy Trinity), a borough, sea-port, market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Christchurch, Ringwood and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 21½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Southampton, and 100 (S. W. by W.) from London. .

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.



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
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Hampshire ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Hampshire ($)
 * 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)

Genealogy from Periodicals
Kiff, Cathryn A. W. My Father's Family - 140 Years in Christchurch. Photos and family names and history of William Ford Tilley and Sarah Elizabeth Alford, and their descendants. Photo of 23 Douglas Avenue home, also of Kings Ave, 1940 with Ted's delivery van, with his brother Cecil and Brian Wright's small boy between them. Other names, Wright, Mabey, Lane, Brown Rayner, Sandell, Craig, D'Angibau, Lawrence, Evans, Jenkins, Lane. Article in The Hamshire Family Historian, vol. 30 no.3, pages 173-177, FHL Ref 942.27 B2h

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Hampshire 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