Caston, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk



Parish History
Caston Holy Cross is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Norfolk.

Caston was the residence of Edward Gilman, a prosperous yeoman of Welsh descent, who died in 1573. Gilman's son Robert, born in 1559, later removed to Hingham, Norfolk, about five miles distant. HIs son Edward Gilman subsequently became caught up in the Puritan movement that swept parts of Norfolk, and moved to Hingham, Massachusetts, arriving in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on August 10, 1638. Puritanism was found elsewhere: Edward Gilman's sister Bridget, married to Edward Lincoln, had a son Thomas Lincoln, who himself left Norfolk for Massachusetts in 1633 accompanied by Mary Gilman Jacob, another of Edward Gilman's sisters. Thomas Lincoln's brother Samuel followed him to Massachusetts in 1637, settling in Hingham alongside his brother. Samuel Lincoln became the great-great-great-great-grandfather of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

The Gilman family subsequently moved to Exeter, New Hampshire, where they became noted businessmen, statesmen and American patriots.

The family branch which remained in England subsequently produced two mayors of Norwich: Charles Suckling Gilman and his son, Sir Charles Rackham Gilman, who were both instrumental in the development of the insurance industry of Norwich and became philanthropists. Charles Rackham Gilman served as the first Chairman of Conservators of Mousehold Heath, which was donated to the City Council during Gilman's period of office as mayor. Gilman Road in Norwich is named for the family. Also descended from the Caston Gilmans was the prominent Norfolk barrister Samuel Heyhoe Le Neve Gilman, who resided at Hingham.

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

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 158/ 1-8

This parish does not appear on Record Search 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

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

Poor Law Unions
Wayland Poor Law Union

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?Wayland/Wayland.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
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/caston-st-cross/ for information about the parish

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50861 for historical description

http://uk-genealogy.org.uk/england/Norfolk/towns/Caston.html for links to census returns for the parish

http://www.caston-online.co.uk/ Caston online

http://www.caston-online.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=103943 for history of the Methodist chapel (illustrated)

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/caston/caston.htm for photos of the church

http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/Windmills/caston-towermill.html for information about the windmill

http://www.misericords.co.uk/caston.html for information and photos of the misericords in All Saints