Ranworth with Panxworth, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk  Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
RANWORTH (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Blofield, hundred of Walsham, E. division of Norfolk, 4 miles (N. W.) from Acle. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Ranworth St Helen is an Ancient Parish in the Blofield deanery of the Diocese of Norwich.

The 14th century church of St. Helen's has a fine 15th century painted rood screen and a rare Antiphoner. It is a Grade I listed building

From the top of Ranworth church's 100 ft. tall tower one can see many of the broads and rivers.(see 360 degree tour in Web Links below)

Known as the "Cathedral of the Broads" it has over 100,000 visitors a year and is one of the most visited parish churches in England.

Norfolk Churches provides additional information and photos of St. Helen, Ranworth.

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.


 * Blofield 1837-1938
 * Norwich Outer 1939-1974
 * Norwich

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

Panxworth registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Images of the parish register are available on FamilySearch Historical Records Norfolk Record Office reference PD 243

1813-1880 Baptisms online Norfolk Baptism Projecttranscription of records.

Census records
1891 Census Surname List provided by Pat Greetham.

Land Records
1597 Subsidy Taxes courtesy of the Norfolk Transcription Archives.

Poor Law Unions
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Blofield/Blofield.shtml

The union consisted of the following parishes: Acle, Beighton, Blofield, Bradestone, Brundall, Buckenham Ferry, Burlingham St Andrew, Burlingham St Edmund, Burlingham St Peter, Cantley, Freethorpe, Halvergate, Hassingham, Hemblington, Limpenhoe, Lingwood, Moulton, Great Plumstead, Little Plumstead, Postwick, Ranworth with Panxworth, Reedham, Southwood, Strumpshaw, Thorpe St Andrew, Tunstall, Upton with Fishley, Walsham St Lawrence, Walsham St Mary, Wickhampton, Witton, Woodbastwick. Blofield Union was incorporated under the 1834 Act. The Union Workhouse was opened in 1836 at Lingwood. Blofield Union Board of Guardians was replaced by Guardians Committee No. 3 in 1930. Received by the Norfolk Record Office on 6 May 1971 (C/GP2/29) and on unknown dates

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

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

Web sites
http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/funstuff/360/ranworth_church.shtml 360 degree tour

http://www.achurchnearyou.com/ranworth-st-helen/ for information about the parish

http://www.norwich.anglican.org/church?deanery=2&amp;p=0 Blofield Deanery

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/ranworth/ranworth.htm Norfolk Churches website

http://www.tournorfolk.co.uk/ranworth.html