Feltwell, Norfolk Genealogy

Norfolk

Parish History
Feltwell has two churches Feltwell St Nicholas and Feltwell St Mary the Virgin. St Mary is used throughout the summer months and for all major services, and St Nicholas during the winter months, since it is easier to heat. Most funeral services are held in the Church of St, Nicholas.

The Parish Church of St. Mary stands in the centre of Feltwell Village. The exact date of the origin of the Church is not known, but since the oldest part of the building, the Chancel, is in the Decorated Style of Architecture, which prevailed about 1275 to 1375, then it is safe to assume that St. Mary's is six hundred years old or more.

St. Mary's achieved historical mention, though hardly laudable, in 1602, in the list of Ruined and Decayed Churches in the Deanery of "ffyncham and Cranwich". The Church was subsequently repaired in 1834 when Feltwell had less than three hundred houses. Some years later, in 1862, the north aisle was rebuilt and the building generally enlarged to its present dimensions

Historically the parish was in the Diocese of Norfolk but is now one of the deanery of Fincham and Feltwell in the Diocese of Ely.

RAF Feltwell
A former Second World War bomber station, the base is used as a housing estate for United States Air Force personnel stationed nearby at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, while also containing the Mathies Airman Leadership School for USAF personnel in the UK, as well as being the home of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service's sole furniture store in the country. It also houses the only Middle School for Lakenheath and Mildenhall, which covers most of the base.

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.


 * Thetford 1837-1938
 * Downham 1939-1974

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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

Norfolk Record Office reference Feltwell St Mary PD 432/1-4, 9-13, 15-20

St Nicholas PD432/5-7

the two parishes form combined registers after 1812

Images of the register may be viewed online at FamilySearch historic record collections (formerly Record Search)

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/Church_Pages/feltwell.htm for images of the church and Baptisms transcript Norfolk Baptisms project

Feltwell Methodist Church

Census records
http://www.btinternet.com/~e.c.apling/1891Census/Feltwell.htm transcript of 1891 census

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal: Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

to locate local Family History Centres in UK

to locate outside UK.

Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Ancestry UK Census Collection

Find my Past census search 1841-1901

for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Thetford Poor Law Union

See also England Norfolk Poor Law Union Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

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/feltwell-st-mary/ for information about the parish also http://www.feltwell.co.uk/today/st_marys.htm

http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/findachurch/st-nicholas-feltwell/?region=Norfolk Churches Conservation trust

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-221744-church-of-st-mary-feltwell British Listed building

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=2261&amp;st=feltwell Vision of Britain

http://friendsofstmarysfeltwell.co.uk/ChurchHistory/tabid/181/Default.aspx History of St Mary church

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

http://www.westnorfolkmethodists.org.uk/churches/feltwell Feltwell Methodist Church