Emneth, Norfolk Genealogy

Guide to Emneth, Norfolk ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
EMNETH (St. Edmund), a parish, in the union of Wisbech, hundred of Freebridge-Marshland, W. division of Norfolk, 2½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Wisbech. Emneth St Edmund is an Ancient parish in the Diocese of Norwich historically but became part of the Diocese of Ely.It is in the Wisbech Lynn marshland Deanery and is combined with another parish to form the parish of Emneth and Marshland St James.

The former church of St James Marshland St James was declared redundant and became a private house.

A medieval church with later restoration. The earliest mention of Emneth is in documents dating back to 1170 giving proof that a village was settled in the parish by this date. The parish church of Saint Edmund's was built in the 12th century and extended dramatically in the 13th century. It remains a large and imposing building. Other building from the medieval period which stood in the parish have been demolished. Hagbeach Hall a medieval hall was demolished in 1887, although its 17th century stables remain and have been converted into houses. The medieval hall on the site of 17th century Oxburgh Hall was also demolished when the new hall was built. Other buildings have disappeared. Emneth was also recorded in a document in 1389 but his documents location has since been lost. Other sites have lost their names and sense of importance. A medieval moated site has been recorded and a seal used by Pope Innocent III to secure documents was found there along with other finds which included a medieval seals matrices, a horse harness pendant and medieval coins. Within the parish other more Domestic sites with less status have also been identified. Medieval hearths were excavated along with many medieval finds including pottery, coins and personal objects. These include a spectacular strap end with the initials S and J. The number of items recovered at this site suggests that this was an area of substantial medieval settlement.

Emneth or Emneth Hungate may take its name It is from old English and therefore probably has Saxon origins, and may have the meanings of smooth meadow, junction of streams on the River Aemenan, river confluence belonging to Eana or mowing grass meadow. The Hungate suffix suggests this area may have been associated with the keeping or rearing of hounds. The village is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. This may well be because the village was valued with another parish and not named. There is evidence for activity in the parish from the Roman period and metal detectorists have found many medieval and post medieval finds.

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.


 * 1837-1938 Wisbech
 * 1938 Freebridge Lynn
 * 1939-1974 King's Lynn

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 - Norfolk ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Norfolk ($)
 * Norfolk Transcription Archive
 * 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
 * 1613-1901 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions

 * Norfolk Poor Law Unions
 * Wisbech

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

 * Emneth on GenUKI
 * Norfolk: Marshland St James on GenUKI