Amberley, Sussex Genealogy

England   Sussex    Amberley

Parish History
Amberley St Michael is an Ancient Parish in the county of Sussex. Houghton, Sussex is a chapelry of Amberley.

Other places in the parish include: Houghton and Rackham.

The church of St Michael and All Angels is designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC)

See A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 49-53. here

See also Amberley Wikipedia Here is an important 19th century history perspective on Amberley Parish, by the noted topographer, Samuel Lewis:

AMBERLEY, a parish (1559), in the hundred of West Easwrith, rape of Arundel, W. division of Sussex, 5 miles (N. N. E.) from Arundel; containing, Rackham hamlet. The parish was united with that of the parish of Houghton [which registers began in 1560; and also see].

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 Worthing registration district Abolished : 1.1.1870 (incorporated into East Preston, Steyning and Thakeham registration districts). Re-created : 1.4.1935 (out of East Preston, Steyning and Thakeham registration districts). 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
West Sussex Record Office has deposited parish Registers Bap 1559-1660, 1673-1978 Marr 1560-1654, 1690-1977 Bur 1560-1654, 1707-1993

Bishop's Transcripts 1571-1858

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection Contact West Sussex Record Office 3 Orchard Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1DD Phone: 01243 753602 Fax: 01243 533959 Email: records.office@westsussex.gov.uk

Census records
See Sussex Census

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.

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

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.

Poor Law Unions
East Preston Poor Law Union, Sussex

Sutton (East Preston) 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