Rockland All Saints, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk

Parish History
Rockland All Saints (with Rockland St Andrew) is an Ancient Parish in the Rockland Deanery of the diocese of Norwich I should not be confused with the village and parish of the same name in Rockland St Mary, Norfolk parish in the Brooke deanery of the diocese.

It neighbours Rockland St Peter, Norfolk. The ruined church of Rockland St Andrew,Norfolk is close by.

The two saxon churches of Rockland All Saints and St Andrew were built as large edifices by two lords of the manor and their size indicates the patronage of two wealthy land owners in Rockland at the time of Edward the confessor.

St Andrew's church dominated the parish and the landscape and was an important village over a thousand years ago. The arrival of the Black Death in Rockland had a severe effect on the village with many buildings burned down in an effort to erdicate the disease. St Andrew's was in ruin and a 1781 description has only the tower remaining.

200 yards to the west All Saints is said to date from the 9th century or earlier. It has no windows on the north wall and the tower and a doorway date from the 13th century. The upper stage of the tower forming the belfry was added in the fourteenth century and the oldest bell installed. Joined by a companion cast by Thomas Draper in 1586 and later by three other installed in 1904/1905 the Rockland peal was silenced only for the period of the Second World War where bells could only be rung to announce the threat of invasion. The church has an enthusiatic team of bell ringers.

The manorial history of Rockland, history of the deanery and rectors may be viewed at the British History online web site listed below.

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.

Wayland 1837-1974

Church records
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. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Images of the parish register for this parish are available in historic records (formerly Record Search) Norfolk Record Office reference PD 335/ 1-7, 12

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/Church_Pages/rockland_all_saints.htm images of the church and transcripts for Baptisms 1813-1880 Norfolk Baptisms Project

See also http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/Church_Pages/rockland_wkhouse.htm

for transcript of Workhouse baptisms 1837-1866 Norfolk Baptisms Project.

Census records
FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition 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.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

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

Ancestry UK Census Collection

Find my Past census search 1841-1901

for details of public houses in the 1881 census

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. Find my Past 1911 census search

http://apling.freeservers.com/1891Census/RocklandAllSaints.htm Rockland All Saints and St Andrew 1891 census transcript

Poor Law Unions
Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Wayland Poor Law Union

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
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/rockland-all-saints/ for information about the parish.

http://rocklands.org.uk/ village website

See http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77140 for the manorial history, history of the deanery with list of Deans and list of rectors British History online

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-220219-church-of-all-saints-rocklands British Listed Building see also

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-220220-church-of-st-andrew-230-metres-south-eas for ruined church of St Andrew nearby

http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Windmills/rockland-all-saints-towermill.html Rockland All Saints Towermill

http://www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/norfolkr/rockland/rocklwh.htm History of the White Hart public house

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/rocklandallsaints/rocklandallsaints.htm Norfolk Churches website