Sidestrand, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk    Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
SIDESTRAND (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Erpingham, hundred of North Erpingham, E. division of Norfolk, 3 miles (S. E. by E.) from Cromer.

Sidestrand St Michael is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Norwich.

The name Sidestrand is thought to derive from the old English word Sid, meaning Broad or spacious and the Danish Strond for Shore. The area is forever immortalised as Poppyland due to the writing about the area by Victorian Journalist Clement Scott

The church of Sidestrand, St Michael, is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk. Much of its material comes from an earlier church that became too close to the cliff. The earlier church was demolished, apart from the tower which was left as a landmark. The tower and graveyard became known as "The Garden of Sleep" - after Clement Scott's poem.

See web links for the poem and creation of Poppyland and history of Clement Scott.

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.

Registration District:


 * Erpingham 1837-1938
 * North Walsham 1939-1974
 * The Register Office, 18 Kings Arms Street, North Walsham, NR28 9JX. Tel/Fax: 01692 406220. E-mail: registration.nwalsham@norfolk.gov.uk

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

This parish's registers do not appear on FamilySearch as no microfilm for the parish is held A search of the Family History Library Catalogue identifies the following Archdeacon's transcripts:

Records of a Norfolk Village by Christobel Mary Hood; Contains transcript of parish registers from 1558-1858. This book was digitized by Google and is held by the University of Michigan Library.

Poor Law Unions
Erpingham    http://www.institutions.org.uk/workhouses/england/norf/erpingham_workhouse.htm

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/sidestrand-st-michael/ for information about the parish

http://norfolkcoast.co.uk/pasttimes/pt_gardenofsleep.htm for history of the "Poppyland" author

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-224699-church-of-st-michael-sidestrand British Listed buildings

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/ for link to Norfolk Baptism project

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/sidestrand/sidestrand.htm Norfolk Churches website

http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/sidestrand.htm for the oriigin of Poppyland and the poem "The Garden of Sleep"