Break in the Registers ???

[nedda]

Hi,

Was just wanting to find out if anyone knows why there is a Break in the Registers?

Pallot's Marriage Index (Over Stowey Marriages) - last entry is 1653 then it states there is a break in the registers until 1687 when the next register begins and it's marked A and bears endorsement date 5th April 1782.

Thanks

Nedda

[rosie99]

Often there is a break because the register has 'gone missing'

Another reason could be (if the period was shorter) that the church was not being used for a while and christenings/ marriages /burials were taking place nearby.

Rosie

[nedda]

Thanks Rosie,

But bugger to the gone missing part!

Someone has found a marriage for that timeframe and state it's 31/3/1666 - so would love to know where it was found it wasn't in the Pallot's Marriage index.

Nedda

[TomRees]

the 'interregnum' - Cromwells Commonwealth was about then - they didnt even celebrate Xmas, let alone get BMDs recorded by other than the Church !

Surprised it went to the 1680s tho ... Charles II was back in the early 1660s ....

[stanmapstone]

I thought Pallot's Marriage Index only covers marriages which took place between 1780 and the commencement of civil registration on 1 July 1837?

Stan

[Redroger]

The Cromwellian period seems to have played havoc with many of the records in Somerset, all parishes were supposed to elect an official to register events, but in the case of Maperton his name has been scratched completely of the record, presumably so he could not be persecuted by the returning Stuart dynasty. Monmouth's rebellion of 1685 probably caused record problems too.

[stanmapstone]

There are Over Stowey Bishop's Transcripts for those years, according to Somerset Heritage Centre, see
http://tinyurl.com/7cdb9w4
Over Stowey Parish Registers at the Heritage Centre http://tinyurl.com/6n9dqml
Stan

[nedda]

Thanks for the replies.

I might have to see if my local LDS centre can get the records in for me

Nedda