London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Local Studies Information Sheet No. 4
BARKING AND DAGENHAM’S PARISH RECORDS
Rate collection book for Chadwell Ward, Barking, 1747.
Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to Henry VIII, was an active reformer. In 1538, one
of the changes he made was to order parish clergy to record all baptisms, marriages
and burial, by entering these into a book after church service on Sundays with the
churchwardens present. Before this date no records were kept for ordinary people
although monks sometimes wrote down such events for prominent families.
Because action was initially slow, this order was repeated in 1558, and in 1597
Queen Elizabeth I decreed that the registers should be kept in parchment books,
thus giving them a similar degree of importance and longevity to that which estate
records had enjoyed for many centuries.
During the medieval period, manors had provided a legal and organisational structure
and monasteries had provided relief to the poor and sick. Gradually this work was
taken over by parishes.
The governing body of a parish, the Vestry (named after the room in which it usually
met and where the priest’s ceremonial clothing or vestments were kept) became
responsible for a variety of civic duties particularly the collection of rates for the care
of the poor and the upkeep of highways. These responsibilities continued until the
Local Government Act of 1894 when ecclesiastical and civil functions were separated
and the secular parish council was established.
Please turn over/. . .
Primary Sources held in the LBBD Archives & Local Studies Centre
(an advance appointment is necessary to view them):
St Margaret’s Barking Vestry Minute Books, 1694-1926.
St Margaret’s Barking Rate Collection books, including Chadwell and Ilford
Wards, 1728-1880 (with gaps)
St Peter & St Paul, Dagenham rate books, 19th and early 20th centuries.
Microfilms of parish registers (we recommend booking a microfilm
reader in advance)
The Borough has two ancient parishes, St Margaret’s Barking and St Peter
and St Paul’s, Dagenham. The original baptism, marriage and burial registers
are held at the Essex Record Office (ERO). The Archives and Local Studies
Centre holds microfilm and fiche copies as follows:
St Margaret’s, Barking: Baptisms 1558-1991, marriages 1558-1991, and
burials 1558-1947.
St Peter and St Paul, Dagenham: Baptisms 1598-1968, marriages 15981948, and burials 1598-1959.
For more details, please see:
Local Studies Information Sheet no.40: Sources for family history in
Barking
Local Studies Information Sheet no. 41: Sources for family history in
Dagenham
Additional parishes were established towards from the end of the 1920s onward to
look after the large increase in population which occurred as a result of the
Becontree estate and subsequent housing developments. Some completed parish
registers have been deposited at the Essex Record Office, Chelmsford. For a list,
please follow the links from the Essex Ancestors main search page, at:
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/displayParishContents.asp
Secondary sources in the LBBD Archives & Local Studies Centre
Essex Record Office:, Catalogue of Parish Records, 1240-1894, with
supplement of non-conformist, charities, societies and school boards, 13411903 (1966)
Oxley, J.E: Barking Vestry Minutes (1955)
Tate, W.E: The Parish Chest – a study of the records of parochial
administration in England (3rd edition 1969)
Archives & Local Studies Centre, Valence House, Becontree Ave, Dagenham RM8 3HT
09.2014
Archives & Local Studies Centre, Valence House, Becontree Ave, Dagenham RM8 3HT
09.2014