St Thomas the Apostle, Winchelsea, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex  Sussex Parishes



Parish History
WINCHELSEA (St. Thomas the Apostle), a borough and parish, having separate jurisdiction, and formerly a market-town, in the union of Rye, locally in the hundred of Guestling, rape of Hastings, E. division of Sussex, 74 miles (E. by N.) from Chichester, and 63¾ (S. E.) from London. The town is about a mile and a half distant from the sea, and occupies a space nearly two miles in circumference, divided into squares by streets intersecting each other at right angles, probably after the plan of the ancient town. The choir, the only remaining portion of the ancient church, a magnificent cruciform structure, is now appropriated as the parochial church, aud presents an elegant specimen of the early and decorated English styles. On the south side are some stalls and a piscina of beautiful design, and in other parts are several splendid monuments, including three supposed to be memorials of Knights Templars, cross-legged and in armour, of which one, in particular, is hardly excelled by any in the kingdom. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. In addition to the church of St. Thomas were anciently two parochial churches dedicated respectively to St. Leonard and St. Giles.

Winchelsea St Thomas a Becket is an Ancient parish; sometimes referred to as St Thomas the Martyr.

History of St Thomas a Becket and Winchelsea Beach formed as an ecclesisatical parish in the parish of Pett, Sussex originally. Winchelsea parishes

The church has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

See also Winchelsea Wikipedia

The Wesleyan Methodist in Winchelsea has deposited records from 1795 and has been designated as a grade II listed building Wesley Methodist Chapel

See also list of places of worship in Rother

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.

From 1837 this parish was within Rye Registration district, from 1935 this was incorporated into Battle Registration district Certiificates may be obtained from East Sussex County Council The Register Office Town Hall Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4UG Phone: 01323 464780 Fax: 01323 431386 Email:eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

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

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

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

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.

Poor Law Unions
Rye Poor Law Union, Sussex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Sussex 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