Researching a Norfolk parish church

Sources at NRO

We hold ecclesiastical records of the Diocese of Norwich, the archdeaconries of Norfolk, Norwich and Lynn, the Dean and Chapter of Norwich and more than 700 parish churches in Norfolk and the deanery of Lothingland in Suffolk.

Parishes in the west of the county (now in the deanery of Fincham and Feltwell) were transferred to the Diocese of Ely in 1914. Diocesan records for these churches from about 1914 onwards are held at Cambridge University Library. 

We do however hold the parish records for these churches, with the exception of parishes in the deanery of Wisbech Lynn Marshland, which are at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum.

Suffolk was part of the Diocese of Norwich until 1837, so many diocesan series include records relating to Suffolk parishes until this date. However, Suffolk records from some series (such as tithe maps and glebe terriers) have been transferred to Suffolk Record Office.

The Deanery of Lothingland remains in the Diocese of Norwich and diocesan records for these parishes (located in and around Lowestoft) are with us.

Please contact us if you are unsure whether the records you wish to see are held by us or are elsewhere.

Online catalogue

Our online catalogue describes most of the records we hold and gives their catalogue reference numbers.

To see a list of the parish records belonging to your church, follow the link 'Ecclesiastical Parish Records - find a Church of England parish collection' from the catalogue homepage.

For details and availability of the other sources listed in this guide, go to the online catalogue and select an advanced search. In the search box, enter the catalogue reference for the series of documents (e.g. "DN/TER" for glebe terriers). Note that the reference must be enclosed in double quotes. You can narrow the number of results by clicking the 'Add criteria' button and adding in a keyword (e.g. a parish name) or by entering dates in the date range boxes.