Netherseal, Derbyshire Genealogy

Parish History
SEAL (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Ashby,hundred of West Goscote, N. division of the county of Leicester, 5¾ miles (S. W. by W.) from Ashby.

Netherseal St Peter is an Ancient Parish also known as Seal and sometimes Seale. Other places in the parish include: Blackfordby, Boothorpe, Donisthorpe, Over Seal, Nether Seal, Oakthorpe, and Nether and Over Seal with Goster, Leas and Boothorpe.

The parish includes the township of Overseal (which is served by a chapel of ease St Matthew). It previously included part of the township of Donisthorpe, Derbyshire until 1838. Originally the Ancient Parish was within the county of Leicestershire and the Diocese of Lincoln, later the Diocese of Northampton but transferred to the county of Derbyshire in 1897 and to the Diocese of Derby in 1927.

Famous railway engineer Sir Nigel Gresley, who lived at Netherseal Hall, is buried in the cemetery. He was Chief Mechanical Engineer of LNER and designed many steam locomotives, including the A1 Pacific 'Flying Scotsman', the first steam locomotive recorded over 100 mph in passenger service, and the A4 Pacific 'Mallard', still holder of the world record 126 mph for a steam locomotive, achieved in 1938.

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
Derbyshire Record Office reference D809 has deposited registers Bap 1566-2001 Mar 1566-1994 Burials 1566-1992 Banns 1754-1801, 1823-1968

Seale St Matthew Overseal was opened as chapel of ease to this parish in 1841

Derbyshire Record Office reference D812 has deposited registers Bap 1841-1957 Mar 1851-1986 Burials 1841-1906 Banns 1864-1977

Poor Law Unions
Ashby de la Zouch Poor Law Union, Leicestershire

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