Tamworth, Warwickshire Genealogy

England Staffordshire



Parish History
Tamworth is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Staffordshire. Part of the parish is also in Warwickshire. Wilnecote and Castle Liberty, Warwickshire is a chapelry of Tamworth. Other places in the parish include: Syerscote.

TAMWORTH (St. Edith), a borough, markettown, and parish, and the head of a union, partly in the N., and partly in the S., division of the hundred of Offlow, S. division of the county of Stafford; and partly in the Tamworth division of the hundred of Hemlingford, N. division of the county of Warwick; containing 7746 inhabitants, of whom 3789 are in the old borough, 24 miles (S. E. by E.) from Stafford, 28 (N. by W.) from Warwick, and 108 (N. W. by N.) from London. This town, which is considered the most ancient in the county of Stafford, derives its name from the river Tame, and from Waert or Worthidge, a water farm. The parish comprises the townships of Syerscote and Fazeley, and the chapelry of Wigginton, in the county of Stafford; and the townships of Amington with StonyDelph, and Bolehall with Glascote, the liberty of the Castle, and the hamlet of Wilnecote with Dosthill, in the county of Warwick. The living is a vicarage; net income, £170; patron, Admiral A'Court Repington. The church, situated in the county of Stafford, is spacious and handsome, with a fine tower, in which are two remarkable spiral staircases communicating with separate floors, their entrances being within and without the church, respectively. Beneath the edifice is a crypt, 33 yards long, filled with human bones. The building combines the decorated and later English styles, and has two Norman arches; the roof is of very fine carved oak. The church was formerly collegiate, and occupies the site of an ancient monastery: the foundation of the college, which consisted of a dean and six prebendaries, is uncertain, but is attributed, with the greatest probability, to the Marmions, who were owners of the castle. Queen Elizabeth broke up the deanery, and sold the land. Some tessellated pavement, now placed in front of the communion-table, was discovered a few years since, when the church was undergoing repair. At Fazeley, Wigginton, and Wilnecote, are separate incumbencies. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyans; and a Roman Catholic chapel.

From: 'Tamerton-Folliott - Tapton', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 297-300. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51327 Date accessed: 31 March 2011.

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.

Staffordshire BMD have indexes for births marriages and deaths. Due to March 2011 reorganisation of the registration service for South Staffordshire districts the historical registration indexes for this district have been located at the Newcastle under Lyme registration district (formerly held at Lichfield) and applications for certificates need to be directed there. Please refer to the "Updates" page of Staffordshire BMD for further information.

Church records
Tamworth St Editha deposited parish registers held at Staffordshire Record Office Bap 1558-1995, Mar 1558-1994, Bur 1558-1919 Bishop's transcripts held at Lichfield Record Office Bap 1664-1869, Mar 1664-1844, Bur 1664-1869 note Bap/bur missing for 1865

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts 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

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Tamworth Poor Law Union, Staffordshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire 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
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.