Norwich St Clement, Norfolk Genealogy

Parish History
Norwich St Clement the Martyr is an Ancient parish in the city and Diocese of Norwich.

It is believed that there was a saxon church on the site from 1040 and it occupies a site close to Fye Bridge the river crossing of the major North South axis of the city formed by King Street and Magdalene Street.

The church closed in the 1960's as redundant and is now in use as a pastoral and counselling centre under the care of the Norwich Historic Churches Trust.

It contains the tomb of the parents of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (1559-1575) who lived in the parish. The only service which is now formally held in the church is the Parker service, which was commissioned by Matthew Parker, who left funds for the benefit of Corpus Christi College (Cambridge) subject to the annual service been held at St Clement. Parker, who became Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Elizabeth 1st, was educated by the rector of St Clements and in the South Churchyard is a box tomb inscribed to the memory of his parents. For his various "investigative activities" he was given the epithet "nosey parker" - a description still in use today!

Church records
Norfolk Record Office reference PD6/1-7, 9-14,20-21 Images of the parish register for this parish are available on Record Search.

The register for Baptisms 1887-1900 for Norwich St Edmund were included in the microfilming at the Norwich Record Office and the book is titled St Clement with St Edmund. St Edmund at this time had closed and parishioners appear to have attached to St Clements. There is a distinct way point for this volume of registers but the entries refer to St Clements until 1887 when St Edmund combines to form a combined register.

The way point to the baptisms and burial registers 1796-1812 has been found to contain a typographical error and this awaits futre correction by engineers the register ends in 1812 and not in 1862 as way pointed at present.

Civil Registration Districts

 * Norwich
 * registration events post 1837 may be searched online at Free BMD

Poor Law Unions
Norwich Poor Law Union

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

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Census records
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

Probate records
Norfolk Probate Jurisdictions Parishes I through N

Maps and Gazetteers
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England Jurisdictions 1851 •Vision of Britain