Corscombe

Baptisms 1595 to 1812

Transcribed from the Parish Registers and donated to the Dorset OPC Project by Kim Parker

Arranged according to the Gregorian Calendar, with the Julian year indicated to the left of the forward slash (/) in those years when the Julian Calendar, which ran from March 25th to March 24th, was in use (i.e. prior to 1752, 1751 being the transition year). Until the English Civil War (1642-1651) entries are in Latin, but are here translated. The register was poorly kept in the Cromwellian period.

The Parish Register is difficult to read in places, so readers are invited to use this transcript as a guide only and to consult the original at the Dorset History Centre. Spelling was phonenetic until the late nineteenth century and may change with every clerk.

After a woman gave birth, she was considered to be "unclean" and had to be "churched" to be allowed back into the congregation, usually 4-6 weeks later. This is typically when a child was christened. If it looked as if the child would not survive until then, a private christening was performed at home. If the child did survive, they would then be "received into the church" at a public christening, which could be months, even years later. Private christenings were not always identified as such, or even recorded.