Seaford, Sussex Genealogy

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

Parish History
SEAFORD (St. Leonard), a cinque port and parish, and formerly a representative borough and a market town, in the union of Eastbourn, locally in the hundred of Flexborough, rape of Pevensey, E. division of Sussex, 59¼ miles (S. S. E.) from London. Seaford was originally a member of Hastings, but was made a port by charter of Henry VIII., who incorporated the inhabitants under the style of "the Bailiffs, Jurats, and Commonalty of the town, parish, and borough of Seaford." The church is the nave of one of the old churches, with a tower, and a small chancel of later date; and although the modern repairs and additions have been numerous, and do not harmonize with the original style, the building still retains vestiges of beauty.

The parish church of St Leonard has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building Seaford Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC) See also Seaford East Sussex List of churches in Lewes district Wikipedia and  A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 36-40. here

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.

For civil registration history see Eastbourne registration district Certificates may be obtained from East Sussex The Register Office Town Hall Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4UG Phone 01323 464780 Fax01323 431386 email eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the West Sussex Record Office and The Keep (which houses the collections of the East Sussex Record Office).

Poor Law Unions
Eastbourne 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

Websites
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SSX/Seaford/