Fersfield, Norfolk Genealogy

England Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
FERSFIELD (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Guiltcross, hundred of Diss, E. division of Norfolk, 4¼ miles (W. N. W.) from Diss.

Fersfield St Andrew is an Ancient Parish in the Redenhall deanery of the diocese of Norwich. Fersfield has been variously recorded as Fersevella, Fervessella, Ferefeud, Fairfeud, Fairvill, and Fersfell, all which seem to signify a Fair Fee, or Village. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book under Fersfield, however. The church is dedicated to Saint Andrew, and dates back, at least in part, to the 12th century. It holds a plain Norman font and a painted wooden effigy of Robert du Bois.

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.


 * Guiltcross 1837-1902
 * Depwade  1902-1935
 * Bressingham 1935-1974

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

Norfolk Record Office reference PD 144/ 1-7, 115-118

This parish's registers do not appear on FamilySearch as no microfilm for the parish is held A search of the Family History Library Catalogue identifies the following Archdeacon's transcripts:

Census records
Find my Past census search 1841-1901

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
Guiltcross 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

 * Fersfield on GenUKI
 * Parish Info
 * Upper Waveney Benefice
 * British history online
 * Fersfield Norfolk Churches website