Bishops' Transcripts

These were ordered to be kept from 1598 when the clergy were required, within a month of Easter, to send transcripts of the registers for the previous year to the bishop of their diocese. After 1837, when civil registration started, many clergy ceased to send copies, although some did continue for quite some time.

Bishops' Transcripts (BTs) are useful in that they provide a second record and may have survived when the parish register has not. Details of baptisms, marriages and burials were also sometimes recorded on loose sheets prior to copying into the registers, and it is possible that some BTs may include entries not listed in the parish registers. BTs for this area are held at Lichfield Record Office.