Eastbourne St Mary, Sussex Genealogy

Guide to Eastbourne St Mary, Sussex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
EASTBOURNE (St. Mary), a post-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Eastbourne, rape of Pevensey, E. division of Sussex There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans.

Eastbourne St Mary in Church Street is an Ancient Parish and a market town in East Sussex. Other places in the parish include: Sea Houses and Meads.

The Ancient parish should not be confused with Eastbourne St Mary Hampden Park or Eastbourne St Mary Wiilingdon.

The church of Saint Mary in Church Street old Town has been designated a grade B listed building British listed building

history and images

Eastbourne Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC)

For gazetteer entry See A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 124-127. here

Gautrey,Arthur J. Free Breakfast for All. A discussion of an ancient custom giving breakfast to parishioners and servants three Sundays during harvest, given by the Parson. Later it was discontinued and a petition signed for using the funds for a School Master and later still for the poor. Surnames of the petitioners are: Parker, Burton, Gildredge, Jorden, Russell, Holland, Renn, Elficke, Payne, Reed, Herriott, Tutt, Thatcher, Bartholomew, Cruden, Reeds, Taylor, Scarlett, Gilbert, Sinnock and Browne. Jurors who were members of the Jury when the petition came to trial are: Wade, Earle, Marden, Tutt, Pelling, Weller, Walker, Day, Smith, Ellyate, Stanbridge, Payne, Elliott, Sands, Holland, Wood, Hunt, Price, Marwick, Maynard, Dendy, Napper, Francis and Harraden. This article to be found in Sussex Family Historian, vol. 1, no.3, Dec. 1973, pages 60-62, Family History Library Ref. 942.52

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.

For civil registration history see Eastbourne registration district Certificates may be obtained from East Sussex The Register Office Town Hall Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4UG Phone 01323 464780 Fax01323 431386 email eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the West Sussex Record Office and The Keep (which houses the collections of the East Sussex Record Office).

Poor Law Unions
Eastbourne 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.

Gantrey, Arthur J. Anne of Cleves' Eastbourne Tithes. After the death of Anne of Cleves, the provisions made for her were given to John Wells and Hercules Witham. James Gildredge bought it from them. A lawsuit was brought forth over it. Surnames mentioned are: Gilbert, Beard, Alchorne, Bancroft, Foster, Eversfield, Jenkin, Spiller, Whitpaine, Collier, Diggons, Strickland, Older, Fairway, Mortimer, Fricker, Tutt, Scarlett, Crundon, Benister, Tourle, Worge, Webb, Elphick, Friend, Wilson, Selwyn, Philpott, King, Hollands, Herriott, Goffe, Sennock, Tompsette, Miller, Dyer, Frost, Fennells, Holland, Renn, Crundon, Sparrow, Browne, Burton, Thorney and James. Article covers years 1540-1740 and is to be found in Sussex Family Historian vol. 1 #5, June 1974, pages 112-114, Family History Library Ref. 942.52 B2su

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