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Burial Records & Death Records in the UK

About Burial Records

A burial record is a any type of record or certificate that states the date and place an individual was buried. These records are available from 1538 onwards, and are recorded in Parish Registers, which are records of baptisms, marriages and burials made by the church. Parish Registers are an invaluable resource for researching your family tree because the census and official records of birth, marriage and death do not go back further than 1837.

Information you can find in a Burial Record

Before 1813, records hold little information. A record will usually only consist of the name and the date of burial. For some entries, however, there was a difference in the information recorded - for example, if a man's wife died, then a record could simply state "Mary wife of John Smith buried the 1 June 1667".

From 1813 onwards, burials were recorded in pre-printed books. From this date more information was noted - this included the name, abode, date buried, age, and who peformed the ceremony .

Tracing an Ancestor in Parish Registers

To trace an ancestor, you will need to know where they lived and the church they went to - Parishes correspond quite closely to villages of the same name. Whereas a rural parish may include a small village and two or three hamlets, there will be many parishes in the city, so you would need to determine in which your family lived.

For more information, visit ParishRegister.co.uk, which will give you more information on baptisms, marriages and burials.

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