It was created in 2009 by the Chardstock Historical Record Group (CHRG) and has since been expanded to cover the Parishes of Chardstock, All Saints and Wambrook, as well as the smaller settlements of Alston, Bewley Down, Birchill, Burridge, Churchill, Cotley, Holy City, Hook and Tytherleigh.
Our primary intention is to display and transcribe research material not readily available from other sources and to use our local knowledge of place and family names to ensure a high degree of accuracy.
The site is designed to allow people to undertake their own research, although we will always try to help with any problems you may encounter.
The data files on this site are presented in PDF format - to access these
documents you will
need Adobe Reader, available as a free download from http://www.adobe.com
The Group usually
meets on the second Wednesday of
January, March, May, July,
September and November. Meetings are normally held in the village pub,
The George Inn,
and start at 6.30 pm. If you are coming for the first time (and you will
be made very
welcome), it is probably best to e-mail us beforehand to confirm the date
and location.
CONTACT DETAILS
Should
you wish to contact us, our e-mail address is chrg@btinternet.com
We will always do our best to help with any enquiries or problems you might
have.
We would especially like to hear from people with information which would
help our
research into the village, whether it be old photographs, family history,
old records of any
kind or just anecdotes about Chardstock. It all helps to build up a fascinating
picture of life in
times gone by.
If you would like to be notified about updates to the site, please contact
us on the e-mail
address shown above and you will be added to our database.
Have you thought about helping with our research? Most of the records we
hold have
been scanned and can be supplied for you to undertake research for eventual
posting on
the site. This can range from simple transcriptions of documents in modern
English to records
written in old English or Latin (Court Hand), some over 300 years old.
Any work carried out can be
selected according to your interests and skill level. If you are interested,
please contact us
on the e-mail address shown above.
WHAT'S NEW
Overseers and Churchwardens - These are major new pieces of research extending to nearly 300 pages of information.
Overseers' Accounts - covering the period 1783/4 to 1794/5, these extend to 239 pages with thousands of entries naming people living in the parish at that time. This information includes payments to the poor, bastardy and militia payments and a considerable number of references to pauper’s burials, examinations, removals, settlements and court appearances. It also covers the opening of the workhouse and the transition from “poor in the community” to that within the workhouse. There is even one case of a man held at The George under guard for two nights before being marched across the road to marry his pregnant bride in St. Andrew’s Church.
Churchwardens’ annual presentations to the Bishop of Sarum/Salisbury during the period 1558 to 1771. These include a surprisingly large amount of information about the parish, covering such topics as attendance at church, behaviour of parishioners, the condition of the church, parents of base born children, parishioners living “contrary to the Laws of God”, Executors of Wills, persons dying intestate, persons suspected of being a witch, land holdings of the church and the behaviour of vicars.
Miscellany - considerably extended from 100 to 144 pages of information, mainly by the addition of transcriptions of newspaper articles naming people from Chardstock or Wambrook. Includes many court cases and the sentences handed out to transgressors.
Wambrook Parish Registers - transcriptions of burials at Wambrook Church from 1813 to 2012 are now available.
Chardstock, All Saints and Wambrook, additional information relating to births, marriages and deaths - expanded with information from a wide range of sources, including baptisms, marriages and burials “Out of Parish”.
Trade Directories - six additional directories - Harrod Directory 1865 and Post Office Directories 1845, 1867, 1871, 1880 and 1885.
Land Tax, Poor Rate & Church Rate - Chardstock Poor Rate 1783/4 to 1794/5 and 1860 and Chardstock Church Rate for years 1797/8, 1798/9 and 1834 have all been added.
Chardstock Estate - revised to include additional information on sale prices and successful bidders/owners at the first auction sale in 1916.
PUBLICATIONS
We have a comprehensive selection of publications available online from
The Parish Chest website:
http://www.parishchest.com/Chardstock_Historical_Record_Group__LID11701
