Tortington, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex     Sussex Parishes



Parish History
TORTINGTON, (St. Mary Magdalene)a parish, in the hundred of Avisford, rape of Arundel, W. division of Sussex, 2½ miles (S. W.) from Arundel. It is bounded on the east by the river Arun. The church is a small structure in the early English style, containing portions of Norman architecture; an arch of rich workmanship forms the south entrance, and another arch, separating the nave from the chancel, is ornamented with a curious moulding: figures of the Four Evangelists in stained glass were put into the east window in 1835. A priory of Augustine canons, in honour of St. Mary Magdalene, was founded here by the Lady Avicia Corbet, before the reign of John.

See church history Tortington St Mary Magdalene

The church of St Mary Magdalene was declared redundant in 1978 and placed in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. St Mary Magdalene Tortington Wikipedia

Tortington Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC)

See also:

Tortington Wikipedia List of places of worship in Arun which includes the closed/disused Anglican church and A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 377-380. 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.

From 1837 this parish was in the Worthing registration district which was abolished in 1870 and recreated in 1935 Certificates can be ordered from West Sussex Centralised Certificates Office Registration Service West Sussex Record Office County Hall Chichester PO19 1RN Phone: 01243 642122

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

Tortington St Mary Magdalene

West Sussex Record Office has deposited parish Registers Bap 1560-1974 Marr 1562-1676, 1700-1944 Bur 1560-1987

Bishop's Transcripts 1593-1987

Contact West Sussex Record Office 3 Orchard Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1DD Phone: 01243 753602 Fax: 01243 533959 Email: records.office@westsussex.gov.uk

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

Census records
See Sussex Census

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.

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

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.

Poor Law Unions
East Preston Poor Law Union, Sussex

Sutton (East Preston) Poor Law Union, Sussex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Sussex 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