Santon Downham, Suffolk Genealogy

Parish History
SANTON-DOWNHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Thetford, hundred of Lackford, W. division of Suffolk, 2¾ miles (E.N.E.) from Brandon Ferry.

Santon Downham St Mary is an Ancient parish in the county of Suffolk. It is situated in the village and this became the main settlement of the village which is on the edge of Thetford Forest and it forms the county border with Norfolk. It is not to confused with neighboring Santon, Norfolk which also has a parish and a tiny church reflecting it's status of a hamlet.

Refer to the works listed in Suffolk Gazetteers or England Gazetteers for source material.

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
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * 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.

Registration District:


 * Thetford 1837-1935
 * Newmarket 1935-

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
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 - Suffolk ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Suffolk ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records
Census, land & surveys at Findmypast ($)

Poor Law Unions
Thetford 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 Suffolk 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

 * Local archives and libraries
 * Family History Centres