Norwich St Martin at Oak, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk

Parish History
Norwich St Martin at Oak is an Ancient Parish in the city and Diocese of Norfolk and takes its name from the oak tree that used to stand in the churchyard and which, in the Middle Ages, housed an image of the Virgin Mary.

The church was effectively destroyed in 1942 in bombing of the city and was subsequently restored.

In the care of the Norwich Historic Churches Trust it was used first as a homeless person's night shelter and now provides an exhibition space which makes it a perfect venue for the Norfolk Open Studio Event (part of the annual Norfolk &amp; Norwich Festival) encouraging visitors to see both the exhibits &amp; the church. It is also used as studio by working artists.

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.

Registration District

 * Norwich

Church records
Images of the parish register for this parish are available on FamilySearch Historical Records (formerly Record Search), Norfolk Record Office reference PD15 / 1-2, 14-22

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

Poor Law Unions
Norwich 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.georgeplunkett.co.uk for historic photographs of the church

Norwich Historic Churches Trust http://www.norwich-churches.org/index.asp