Bovey Tracey, Devon Genealogy

England Devon Devon Parishes

Parish History
BOVEY-TRACEY (St. Thomas à Becket), a parish, in the union of Newton-Abbot, hundred of Teignbridge, Teignbridge and S. divisions of Devon, 4 miles (W. by S.) from Chudleigh. This place derives the affix to its name from the family of Tracey, barons of Barnstaple, to whom the manor anciently belonged, and who were descendants of William de Tracey, the chief agent in the assassination of St. Thomas à Becket of Canterbury, in 1170. The church is a large edifice in the early English style, of which it displays some interesting details. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans; also a school endowed with a house and garden for the master.

Civil Registration
Births, 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.

Church records
Abstracts of bishop's transcripts (1613-1639) are online at Internet Archive - free.

Abstracts of bishop's transcripts (early 1600s) are online at Internet Archive - free.

Overview, Include information for parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts, Contact information for the office holding the original records, Links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Bovey Tracey Churchwarden's Accounts, 1704-1729: Manuscripts of these churchwarden accounts can be viewed at the Devon Record Office in Exeter, Devon. Call number: 2160A-99/PW1

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to [county] 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
There are many maps and gazetteers showing English places. Valuable web sites are:


 * 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Add here any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.