Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records. View and printout a Complete List of Norwich City Parishes, Chapels and District Churches

Parish History
Norwich Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Work began in 1096, and was completed by 1145. The Cathedral stands, within a close or precinct, about ¼ of a mile N E of the Castle, and about half that distance from the nearest part of the right bank of the river Wensum. It was founded, in 1096, by Bishop Herbert de Losinga; and was extended, embellished, altered, and repaired, by subsequent bishops and by wealthy families, till it attained completion solate as about 1500.

The pile, as it now stands, comprises a nave of fourteen bays with aisles, a transept of three bays in each wing, a central steeple, an apsidal sacristy on the N E side, a choir of four bays with aisles, an apsidal end, and a procession-path, three chapels on respectively the S side, the N E side, and the S E. The lady-chapel was 57¼ feet long and 36 1/3 feet wide.

The Beauchamp chapel, on the S side, is now the Consistory court; Jesus' chapel, on the N E side, is used by the Bishop; and St. Luke's chapel, on the S, is now used as the parish church of St. Mary-in-the-Marsh.

A bishop's chapel 130 feet by 30, of decorated English date, are in the palace gardens. The Cathedral precinct comprehends the Upper Close, the Lower Close, Life's Green, and 15½ acres of garden ground; forms the peculiar jurisdiction of the dean and chapter, together with the parish of St. Mary-in-the-Marsh; and communicates with the city through three gates, called the Erpingham, St. Ethelbert's, and St. Martin's.

Further reading:


 * A. D. Bayne, A Comprehensive History of Norwich.(Paternoster Row, London : Jarrold and Sons, 1869)

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
Many of Norwich parish registers (many of its parishes and chapels of the Church of England) christenings, marriages and burials have become available for online searches. In 2015, TheGenealogist.co.uk published several million entries for CMBs (christenings, marriages and burials) in this county. In addition, FreeReg (see below) has published milliions of names from CMBs as well for most parishes in this county--including many Norwich City parishes and chapels.

To view a more comprehensive list for all of Norwich's vast number of parishes and chapels of the Church of England laying within the boundary of this very large ancient parish, click the above link (at top of page) "Complete List of Norwich Parish City Parishes, Chapels and District Churches" and print out for your research purposes. The chart below is not a comprehensive list of this parish boundary's attached chapels and ecclesiastical (in the city) parishes.

Here's list of some of the available online Norwich church records published online for the following years:

The Family History Library has scanned and imaged just about all publically available Norfolk original parish registers, Bishop's and archdeaconry transcripts. These are now available online for searching at FamilySearch.org (click "Browse All Published Records Collections" and then scroll down to "England, Norfolk").

Ancestry.co.uk has indexed about 17.8 million christenings, marriages and burials from Norfolk County parish registers and transcripts. See their ($) website; click "Search", then click "Card Catalog", then type Norfolk, then you can search databases by range of years.

FreeReg.org.uk has indexed up to about 85 percent coverage for the county as well. Searches can be made for free for baptisms, marriages and burials for all time periods.

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

Websites

 * Norfolk: Norwich on GenUKI
 * http://www.cathedral.org.uk/historyheritage/introduction-introduction.aspx
 * http://www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Website/cathedral.htm
 * http://www.easterncathedrals.org.uk/norwich.html
 * http://www.norfolk-norwich.com/norwich/discovering-norwich/history-of-norwich.php