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From: "Rod Strong" <>
Subject: Re: PARISH CHESTS
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:11:20 -0000
References: <002201c4f6b0$2040a140$47a076cb@ihug.co.nz>


Hi Pat,

Parish chests are usually kept in the church, usually in the vestry. My
understanding is that funds were provided at the time of Henry VIII (or was
it Elizabeth I ?) for the supply of a 'strong chest' to be provided in each
parish for the preservation of the registers which Henry demanded be kept.
This would make some of them 450 years old and naturally many have not
survived, but have been replaced with a variety of substitutes over the
centuries. The registers are often placed in the county archives when they
are complete. I read somewhere that there is a legal requirement to do so. I
mention this as during a meeting of a church council I was a member of,
there was talk of raising money by charging family historians £50 pounds for
information retrieved from the parish registers. I argued against this and
pointed out that if they agreed to do this, the council might just find
itself forced to hand over registers, by aggrieved genealogists, to the
county archives who might themselves use this as a source of income. The
suggestion was quickly dropped. I believe though there is a suggested amount
and not insignificant, that a parish priest can charge for looking up
information in the registers, similar to the fee for marriages and funerals.

Rod S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Henry Kench" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 1:02 AM
Subject: PARISH CHESTS


> I would like to know where Parish Chests are held. The particular ones I
would like to know the whereabouts of are HADDENHAM, WITCHFORD, and LITTLE
DOWHAM..
> Pat
>
> ______________________________

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