Amberley, Herefordshire Genealogy

England Herefordshire  Herefordshire Parishes



Parish History
Amberley chapel was formed as a chapelry of Marden, Herefordshire Ancient Parish. For further details including a map of Marden parish boundary including the location of the chapel see A church near you

It was the private chapel to Amberley Court

The chapel was restored in 1865 and has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building

At the time of compilation of The National Gazetteer of 1868, the chapel was said to be in ruins; however Littlebury's Directory of 1876-7 records that it was restored by Thomas Nicholson, of Hereford in 1865; and it was obviously cared for after that, as the Listed Building account mentions a late 19th century harmonium, made by Mason and Hamlin, of Boston, MA; and a font of similar age, which has a circular bowl set in an octagon decorated with quatrefoil panels beneath blind ogee cresting and shamrocks". The original font is in the garden of Amberley Court.

The architecture of the chapel is described Corpus of Romanesque Architecture Amberley Chapel

Lewis, Samuel A. A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 49-53. 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.

Church record
Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

In view of the private chapel function it is necessary to refer to the Marden, Herefordshire parish registers reference AJ20

The Diocesan Record Office for Herefordshire has deposited Parish registers and Bishop's transcripts for that parish

Herefordshire Archive Service Herefordshire Record Office Harold Street Hereford HR1 2QX

Office Tel No: +44 (0)1432 260750 Email: archives@herefordshire.gov.uk

It is noteworthy that the chapel had a burial ground and that at reference AO16/13 1978 Licence authorising the solemnization of marriages in Amberley Chapel is found in the Marden parish records held at Harold Street.

Census records
See Herefordshire Census The Family History Library appears to have no microfilm collection for Amberley.

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
Hereford Poor Law Union, Herefordshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Herefordshire 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
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.