Bridgwater, Somerset Genealogy

Guide to Bridgwater, Somerset family history and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
BRIDGWATER (St.Mary), a port, borough, market-town, and parish, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of North Petherton, W. division of Somerset, 35 miles (S. W.) from Bristol, and 137 miles (W. by S.) from London. This place was given to Walter de Douay, one of William's followers, at the time of the Conquest, and was thence called "Burgh Walter" and "Brugge Walter," by which names, both signifying Walter's burgh or borough, it is designated in various ancient records. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyans, Roman Catholics, Unitarians, and others'''. '''

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.

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

Bridgwater St John the Baptist parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Somerset 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/SOM/Bridgwater/index.html