My thanks and acknowledgments to the Parochial Church Council for Wimpole and St Andrew's Parish Church for allowing the online publication of the Church Registers. Listings prior to 1864 are based on the Church Registers for the Parish of Wimpole, as transcribed and collated by T P R Layng in March 1983. Originally typed by C L and A E Hatton. The transcription by T P R Layng concludes on 4 October 1863. The transcription following this date is by Julia Thorogood with contributions by John Steadman. Additional research for this website is by Steve Odell. In medieval times there were no parish registers. Through the efforts of Thomas Cromwell in 1538 a mandate was issued by Henry VIII for churches to maintain parish records. This ordered that every parson, vicar or curate was to enter in a book every wedding, baptism and burial in his parish. In 1558 Queen Elizabeth re-confirmed her father's mandate into law and many church records date from that year. Wimpole's own church records for baptisms, weddings and burials began in 1560. Unless otherwise stated, the dates shown record the date of the baptism/christening service at Wimpole Parish Church, not the date of birth of the child. In cases of significant illness or impending death, some Baptisms/Christenings would have been performed by the Rector at the child's home. It was the convention for the baptism/christening service to be held within a week or so of birth. However, there was no law to enforce baptisms within any set time (beyond incurring the not insignificant displeasure of the local Rector!) and many examples in the Registers show baptisms being carried out months or even years after birth. Some children were never baptised, especially those from Nonconformist families. The original spelling of names in the Registers (as transcribed) has been retained. In England and Wales, up to 1751, the New Year began on the 25th March (Lady Day). Information, notes, observations, and comments additional to the original text are generally shown within [square brackets] and in italics. This transcription has been reset to facilitate name searches in "name" format (ie forename/surname within quote marks). See the 'Searching for Names' box below for further search options. I would be pleased to hear from you if you can offer any additional genealogical or family information relevant to this page, especially if you possess old photographs that could be added to the more general site for those who follow. Please use the site's Contact Page in the first instance. Key:   (BT: ) indicates the entry as shown in the Bishop's Transcripts 1599-1812 where it differs from the entry in the local church register. [PR: ] Additional information from the Parish Registers. [C: ] I have compared the Layng transcript with the commercially available Cambridgeshire Family History Society transcription. Any significant differences are indicated thus. Local parish records on CDs can be purchased from the society.

Searching for 'Names' in the Wimpole Registers: The parish register pages for Wimpole are being progressively reset to facilitate name searches using the following 'phrase' formats within the search boxes provided [check the † symbol in the register index below]. - "John Smith" [search using quote marks around the name as shown] when looking to     match an exact name. - [John Smith] [search using square brackets around the name as shown] when looking    to match any similar name. - {John Smith} [search using braces around the name as shown] when looking to match    any approximate name. The search results will generally provide the first matches found on each page. On long 'list' pages such as a register or a census page, there may well be other similar name matches further down the page and you are advised to use your browser's 'find on this page' facility to check and locate any additional matches. This alphabetical name index [originating long before the era of internet search engines...] lists over 1000 early Wimpole 'names' [and variations] from the Registers. It can still be helpful in suggesting alternate and phonetic spellings of surnames. For additional help and further advice on searching, visit the site's Search page.

Wimpole Parish Registers: Baptisms:   1560-1599†   1600-1649†   1650-1699*   1700-1749*   1750-1799*    1800-1824†   1825-1849†   1850-1874†   1875-1899†   1900-1924†** Banns:   1755-1849†   1850-1900† Marriages:   1560-1599   1600-1699   1700-1799   1800-1863 Burials:   1560-1599   1600-1699   1700-1799   1800-1849†   1850-1899† * indicates page is unavailable. ** indicates some year transcriptions are available. † indicates complete page has been set to facilitate name searches.