Hereford Cathedral, Herefordshire Genealogy

Guide to Hereford Cathedral, Herefordshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HEREFORD, an ancient city, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Grimsworth, county of Hereford, of which it is the chief town, 135 miles(W. N. W.) from London; containing, exclusively the townships of Lower Bullingham and Grafton, in the parish of St. Martin, hundred of Webtree.

The city comprises the ecclesiastical churches of All Saints, St Martin's, St John the Baptist, St Nicholas, St Owen, and St Peter. The chapel of All Saints which also was comprised of a separate chapelry in the township of Grafton by 1867 was consolidated with that of St Martin's parish. The Cathedral church of St Mary's and St Ethelbert is an ancient structure. St Martin's church, which was situated on the south bank of the river, near the bridge, was destroyed during the parliamentary war. The present church was consecrated in October 1845. The chapel of St John the Baptist's comprised the west nave of (and was built-in and a portion of) the cathedral, and was appropriated as a church by 1638 for this ancient parish till the accidental fall of its (the Cathedral's) tower, in 1786. As of 1848, the north transept was instead used for worship purposes.

The church of St Nicholas was constructed by at least the year 1556.

The church of St Owen's is a rectory by 1628, and was united to the vicarage and church of St Peter's (1556). St Owen's was situated without the walls of the city, was destroyed during the parliamentary war. On its site, a neat school-house, which is also used as a chapel of ease, was erected in the 1840's. The church of St Peter, founded in 1070, was repaired and partly rebuilt in 1793.

There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics.

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.

Church records
Hereford Cathedral 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.

The Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre houses many parish registers. See The records we hold for a list of records available there. How to contact them:
 * Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre Fir Tree Lane Rotherwas Hereford HR2 6LA Telephone: +44 (0)1432 260750 Email: [mailto:archives@herefordshire.gov.uk archives@herefordshire.gov.uk] Website: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre

Some online data content from several other church registers of chapels all within the boundary of Hereford Cathedral exists at one or more of the following websites and for the specified ranges of years (but none for Hereford Cathedral proper, at this time):

For a full list of all those chapels surrounding Hereford Cathedral or St Ethelbert and St Mary's Cathedral and comprising the whole ancient parish boundary of Hereford, be certain to see "Church Records" on the Hereford Cathedral page.

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

The Cathedral Archives and Library location and contact information is as follows:

Hereford Cathedral 5 College Cloisters Cathedral Close Hereford, HR1 2NG Tel.: 01432 374200 E-mail: office@herefordcathedral.org The Cathedral Archives has the following registers and records available for the Cathedral of St Ethelbert and St Mary's and St John's Chapel:


 * Baptisms 1813–1916 only
 * Marriages 1686–1754
 * Burials 1813 to date
 * Burials database 1685-1813 is available reconstructed from burial payments
 * Marriage bonds and allegations 1605–1942
 * St John's Chapel bapts &amp; marriages 1604 to date; burials 1604 - 1919

Census records
See Herefordshire Census

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 the FHC Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

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

Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.