Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Parish Registers Browse

All the images were created from the original registers held at the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office. Parish registers are an excellent resource for family historians and local historians, especially if you are tracing your family further than 1837.

The detail found in each record will depend on the condition and date of the register. Additional details about our ancestors are primarily found in later registers. Early register books usually only recorded a few key facts such as name, place, and date.

The detail for each life event will vary, but most will include the following:

Baptisms

• Name

• Parent’s names

• Baptism date

• Residence

• Parents’ occupation

• Who performed the ceremony

Marriages

• Name of bride and groom

• Marriage date

• Bride and groom’s age, marital status, occupations, and residence

• Bride and groom’s fathers’ names

• Fathers’ occupations

• Marriage place

• Bride and groom’s signatures

• Names of witnesses

Burials

• Burial date

• Name

• Residence

• Age at the time of death

• A number of records also include the name of a spouse, parents, or next of kin

Each image allows you to browse left and right through the register by using the arrows on either side of the image. Furthermore, you can skip to exact page in the register by using the image counter at the bottom, centre of the page. For example, if the register has 100 pages, you can skip to page 50, the middle of the register book.

Parish registers recorded all the baptisms, marriages, and burials of each parish. From 1538, it was a requirement of each parish to create registers. In 1812, printed registers were introduced and each event was recorded separately. Some records may contain gaps, especially during the reign of Catholic Mary Tudor, 1553 to 1558, and during the English Civil War, 1642 to 1660.

Devon is located in South West England. Plymouth is a port city with a long maritime history.

Devon registers

• If you cannot find the register you are looking for, try searching the ** Devon, parish registers browse**. A link is provided in the Useful links and resources section. This particular set of registers is from the Devon Archive and Local Studies.

• We have also provided a full list of all the places available in this set of registers in the Useful links and resources section.

Non-conformists

• If you know that your ancestor was part of a non-conformist denomination or Roman Catholic, it is still useful to consult the parish registers. After 1754, until civil registration was introduced in 1837, all faiths, except Quakers and Jews, were required to register their baptisms, marriages, and burials in the local Church of England.

Names

• To search for your ancestor by name, search the individual event records found in the Useful links and resources section.