Rusper, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex     Sussex Parishes

Parish History
RUSPER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Horsham, hundred of Singlecross, rape of Bramber, W. division of Sussex, 5¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Horsham. The parish is bounded on the north by the county of Surrey. It is pleasingly diversified with hill and dale. The church is in the early and later English styles, and contains several ancient brasses and interesting monuments. Here are some slight remains of a priory of Black nuns, founded by Gervase of Canterbury, who flourished in the reign of Richard I.; it was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene.

Rusper is a village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex Rusper Wikipedia Part of the Ancient Parish boudary froms part of the county boundary with neighbouring Capel, Surrey and Newdigate, Surrey

Rusper St Mary Magdalene is the parish church of the Ancient Parish and Sussex Parish Churches has the history of the church Rusper St Mary Magdalene

The Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene High Street Rusper has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

Rusper Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Other places of worship include

Colgate Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Faygate Methodist Chapel

See also list of places of worship in Horsham Wikipedia

The Anglican parish of Colgate St Saviour was formed from this parish see Colgate St Saviour Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

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.

From 1837 this parish was in the Horsham registration district Certificates can be ordered from West Sussex Centralised Certificates Office Registration Service West Sussex Record Office County Hall Chichester PO19 1RN Phone: 01243 642122

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

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records.

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

to locate local Family History Centres in UK

to locate outside UK.

Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Ancestry UK Census Collection

Find my Past census search 1841-1901

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Horsham 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.

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