Norwich St Michael at Plea, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk

Parish History
Norwich St Michael at Plea is an Ancient Parish in the city and Diocese of Norwich. "The church of St-Michael-at-Plea, once called St Michael at Notstone, is so called because the Archdeacon of Norwich held his pleas, or courts, in the building. The lords of the manor of Sprowston and Horsford were patrons of the church."

One of the early mayors of Norwich, Richard Ferrer was buried in this church in 1616.

In 1887 the parish church was in poor condition and a major restoration was undertaken. During the process a couple of paintings from the 14th Century were discovered and the graveyard was leveled and grass planted. The church is in the care of the Norwich Historic Churches Trust and is in use as a bookshop, Christian Resource Centre and Café. A few decaying gravestones are found propped against the back corners of the buiding.

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

Poor Law Union
Norwich 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
 * Norwich Ordnance Survey Map (Incl 1838, 1898-1899, 1922 and present day). www.cassinimaps.com

Websites
http://www.georgeplunkett.co.uk for historic photographs of the church.

Norwich Historic Churches Trust http://www.norwich-churches.org/index.asp