Bixley, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Bixley, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Bixley St Wandregesilius is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Norwich.

A shrine to St Wandrille was on the site and the latin form of the name is the dedicatory name of the parish church. It is unique in England as a dedicatory name. St Wandrille was a Benedictine abbot, also called Wandregisilus and Vandrille. Born near Verdun, France, to a noble family and related to Blessed Pepin of Landen, he was sent to the court of the Frankish king Dagobert I (r. 629-639) of Austrasia (parts of modern Germany and France). There he wed in accordance with the wishes of his family. In 628, after a pilgrimage to Rome, he and his wife separated by mutual agreement so that each could enter the religious life. After living for a time as a hermit, he entered the Benedictine monastery of Montfaucon, in Champagne, France, where he lived for ten years. Wandrille then left the abbey to become a hermit at St. Ursanne, Jura. He then went to Roumain-Moutier, where he was ordained. He founded the monastery of Fontenelle, in Normandy a school as well as what was to become a leading missionary center and one of the respected monastic institutions of France. On the night of Thursday 3rd May 2004, the church was completely destroyed by fire, probably started deliberately with one of the gas canisters used for heating. The church will not be rebuilt.

BIXLEY (ST. WANDEGISILUS), a parish, in the union and hundred of Henstead, E. division of Norfolk, 3 miles (S. E. by S.) from Norwich.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
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 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

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.


 * Henstead1837-1938
 * Norwich Outer 1939-1974

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Chapelry is a church or churches built in a large ecclesiastical parish to help the members attend worship services closer to their homes.

Online Parish Records Table

Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Norfolk ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Norfolk ($)
 * Norfolk Transcription Archive
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * Tinstaafl Baptism Project 1813 to 1880

Non-Conformist Churches (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * 1613-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Henstead/Henstead.shtml

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

Websites

 * Bixley on GenUKI