Court of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury

A general explanation of probate records in England, is given in the article England Probate Records.Click to read a definition of archdeaconry.

Step by Step
1. First search each index (see "Indexes" below) to help you more quickly find the will, writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry. 2. Proceed to "Records" section (below) to determine what probate records exist for this court. 3. Contact or visit the Suffolk Record Office or, hire a professional record searcher to view these records on your behalf. Officials may send upon request a list of record searchers. 4. Visit The FamilySearch Library or one of its 4,500 satellite FamilySearch centers worldwide and search the indexes; then with the information obtained from the index[es] you can search more quickly the original wills and admons on microfilm.

Online Indexes

 * Bury St. Edmunds' Calendar of Wills 1520-1650 is available online at Archives.org in two parts 1520-1599 and 1600-1650. Once the reference number has been obtained, the wills can then be ordered from the Bury St. Edmunds Record Office, or viewed on microfilm at the FamilySearch Library or FamilySearch Centres.

Printed and Published Indexes
The FamilySearch Library has copies of the following indexes.


 * compiled by T.K. Crossfield
 * complied by Vincent Burrough Redstone.
 * compiled by T.K. Crossfield
 * complied by Vincent Burrough Redstone.

Archive Location
The original records for this court are housed at the Suffolk Record Office - Bury St. Edmunds.

Archive Records
Add information about the manuscript, printed and digital records in this location.


 * Original wills, 1424-1652, 1660-1857
 * Register copy wills, 1439-1652/3, 1660-1857
 * Administrations, 1660-1857 (with minor gaps)
 * Admon act books, 1544-1546, 1568-1573, 1577-1593, 1605-1612, 1630-1652/3, 1660-1858
 * Inventories, 1573-1576, 1617, 1625, 1640, 1650, 1652, 1660-1747

FamilySearch Library Records
Films can be view in the library or in a family history center.



Suffolk
The Court of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury had jurisdiction over West Suffolk with the addition of Stow and Hartismere Deaneries in East Suffolk (to 1837 only).

A list of parishes in the Archdeaconry of Sudbury in 1837 is given in S. Tymms' Wills and Inventories from the Registers of the Commissary of Bury St. Edmunds and the Archdeaconry of Sudburypublished in the Old Series by the Camden Society.

Cambridgeshire
It had jurisdiction over those parishes under the authority of the Court of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) of Norwich, namely:

Also, after 1837 only (when the Archdeaconry of Sudbury was transferred to the Diocese of Ely), the Cambridgeshire parishes in the Deanery of Camps, namely: