Protestation Records To Be Digitised
The National Archives have announced they will digitise the records that have survived for the protestation returns for England (and one parish in Scotland - Eaglesfield).
These records are the closest we get to a 17th Century census although are only really a list of names of those who pledged and didn't pledge to Protestantism between 1641-42. Although in many cases Catholics pledged and still held their religious views.
You can view a map created by the National Archives showing the collections they own about each parish here. To search, click on the map and then enter the place name of where your ancestors lived and press the enter key on your keyboard or click the place when it comes up under the search box. You can then zoom in and see if the parish is listed in the returns.
It was signed by all men over the age of 18 and sometimes widows who were the head of the household. This is all that is generally found on these records.
This could potentially knock down some brick walls so I am looking forward to the release.
Published: 17 December 2015
These records are the closest we get to a 17th Century census although are only really a list of names of those who pledged and didn't pledge to Protestantism between 1641-42. Although in many cases Catholics pledged and still held their religious views.
You can view a map created by the National Archives showing the collections they own about each parish here. To search, click on the map and then enter the place name of where your ancestors lived and press the enter key on your keyboard or click the place when it comes up under the search box. You can then zoom in and see if the parish is listed in the returns.
It was signed by all men over the age of 18 and sometimes widows who were the head of the household. This is all that is generally found on these records.
This could potentially knock down some brick walls so I am looking forward to the release.
Published: 17 December 2015
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