Gloucestershire Church Records

England Gloucestershire  Church Records

Parish Registers
The following websites provide data rich entries for baptisms, marriages and burials from early to the 1900's:

1. Ancestry.co.uk (£) has published millions of entries for the county of Gloucestershire. They have digitised and indexed both parish registers and bishop's transcripts:
 * Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813 11,693,589 entries.
 * Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1913 3,162,197 entries.
 * Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Confirmations, 1834-1913 14,295 entries.
 * Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938 1,489,053 entries.
 * Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1988 821,508 entries.

2. FamilySearch's includes 2,054,974 Gloucestershire baptisms. includes 1,108,519 Gloucestershire entries. includes 523,006 Gloucestershire burials. Formerly known as the International Genealogical Index. These databases are free on FamilySearch. Coverage.

3. Findmypast.co.uk published about the same time, a Bristol City database index to baptisms, marriages and burials as well.

Baptisms

189,039 Gloucestershire entries are included in England &amp; Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 at Ancestry (£). Formerly known as British Isles Vital Records Index - 2nd Ed. Coverage.

Marriages

Gloucestershire Marriage Index 1800-1837 is available online at Family History Societies Online (£).

222 Gloucestershire parishes are indexed in Boyd's Marriage Index (£). Coverage. Bristol was a popular place to marry.

There are 147 Gloucestershire parishes which are indexed in Joiner's Marriage Index (£). Coverage.

There are 93,780 Gloucestershire entries included in England &amp; Wales Marriages, 1538-1940 at Ancestry (£). Formerly known as British Isles Vital Records Index - 2nd Ed. Coverage.

FamilySearch and Ancestry have all published extensive online data for marriages for Gloucestershire as of February, 2015.

Findmypast has published online data for the City of Bristol from 1538 to 1939.

Burials

Burials from 310 Gloucestershire places (167,500 entries) are included in the National Burial Index (£). Coverage.

See Findmypast, Ancestry and Familysearch which also provide published data for burials for the county.

Marriage Licences
Marriage licences could be obtained from the Bishop of Gloucester, as well as from the Bishop of Bristol.


 * 1636-1777 - Boyd's Marriage Index (£) includes 30,312 entries from Bristol Diocese marriage licences (1637-1777). There are also 2756 entries from Gloucester Diocese marriage licences (1636-1742).

Bishop of Gloucester


 * 1637-1837 - Gloucestershire Marriage Licence Allegations 1637-1837 and Marriage Bonds 1730-1823 at Forest of Dean Family History Trust website - free. 44,000+ entries.


 * 1637-1680 - Gloucestershire Marriage Allegations 1637-1680. Digitised by - free.

Bishop of Bristol


 * 1637-1700 - Marriage Bonds for the Diocese of Bristol 1637-1700. Digitised by - free; some restrictions may apply.


 * 1701-1710 - Bristol Marriage Licence Bonds 1701-1710, by Roger Price, 2014, at Bristol and Avon Family History Society website - free.


 * 1750-1752, 1762-1789 - Bristol Marriage Licences, 1750-1789; images (no index) are online at FamilySearch - free; some restrictions may apply.
 * 1750-1752
 * 1762-1767
 * 1767-1775
 * 1775-1781
 * 1781-1789

Forest of Dean
A very helpful resource for parishes in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire is an online database of indexed parish registers found at www.forest-of-dean.net. It includes index baptism, marriage, and burial records from the following parishes.