Parish records and registers

To access catalogues of the registers and records held at this office, select on the name of the appropriate parish in the list below.

All the entries in the parish registers from 1539 to 1900 have been recorded in our Personal Names Index. This is a card index that can be consulted in the Record Office searchroom.

The majority of the original parish registers have been microfilmed. Members of the public who wish to consult the registers or print copies of actual entries are advised to contact us in advance to book a microfilm printer. 

The catalogues are prefaced by a class-list for parish records, which shows topics under which the records are arranged. Not all types of records survive for all churches. These catalogues will be updated as we receive new deposits at the Record Office. If the records you are interested in are not listed for your particular parish, contact us.

View a map of the historic parish boundaries (PDF, 795KB) on the Isle of Wight.

Parish registers were initially combined, with Baptisms, Marriages and Burials recorded in the same volume. Separate marriage registers were first introduced in 1754. They were modified in 1837 to the layout we know today. Separate Baptism and Burial registers were introduced in 1812. They remain virtually unchanged to this day.

Example of an earlier marriage register for St Helens (PDF, 746KB)

Example of a post-1837 marriage register for Brook (PDF, 785KB)  

Isle of Wight parish registers

Parish registers include the approximate dates covered for:

christenings (C)
marriages (M)
burials (B).

Island parishes A to Q:

Island parishes R to Z:

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