Ludham, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Ludham, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
LUDHAM (St. Catherine), a parish, in the Tunstead and Happing incorporation, hundred of Happing, E. division of Norfolk, 13 miles (N. E. by E.) from Norwich. Also includes or is known as How Hill.

Ludham St Catherine is an Ancient parish in the Waxham deanery of the Diocese of Norwich.

When King Canute founded St. Benet's Abbey in the 11th century he endowed it with several manors and so the village of Ludham on the River Thurne came into being.

Although the oldest parts of the current church of St. Catherine only dates back to the 14th century there is evidence that an earlier church stood here back in the 11th century.

Legend tells of a dragon that terrorised the village of Ludham. The dragon made a lair of tunnels under the churchyard and across to the main street. Whilst the dragon was out basking in the sunshine one day a young fellow blocked the entrance to its tunnel. Enraged, the dragon flew off to St. Benet's Abbey and after smashing its tail against the wall, vanished, never to be seen or heard of again!

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.
 * Norfolk Record Office

Registration Districts

 * 1837-1869 Tunstead
 * 1870-1938 Smallburgh
 * 1939-1974 North Walsham

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 - Norfolk ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Norfolk ($)
 * Norfolk Transcription Archive
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * Tinstaafl Baptism Project 1813 to 1880

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * 1613-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions

 * Norfolk Poor Law Unions
 * Tunstead and Happing Workhouse (Smallburgh)

Probate Jurisdictions

 * Norfolk Probate Jurisdictions Parishes I through N

Maps

 * England Jurisdictions 1851

Websites

 * Ludham on GenUKI
 * Ludham Community Archive for history and images of the village
 * Wartime Memories Project - RAF Ludham
 * Parish Info on AChurchNearYou
 * Ludham Norfolk Churches website