Pirton, Hertfordshire Genealogy

England   Hertfordshire

Parish History
PIRTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Hitchin, hundred of Hitchin and Pirton, county of Hertford, 3½ miles (N. W.) from Hitchin; containing 764 inhabitants. This place is called Perstone in Domesday book; and Ralph de Limesy, an eminent Norman soldier, to whom the township, with many other possessions, was given after the Conquest, founded a church here. The parish comprises by measurement 2700 acres, and is two miles distant from the London and Bedford road. The females are employed in the manufacture of straw-plat. A fair is held for sheep early in November. The living is a vicarage: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1811; the glebe consists of 154 acres, valued at £200 per annum. The church has a chancel entirely separated from the body of the edifice. Upwards of thirty skeletons of various sizes, with several urns containing burnt bones, and some fragments of coarse pottery, were lately found in a field called Dane-field; the bodies appeared to have been placed regularly, a yard asunder, with the heads towards the east.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848)

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Hertfordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.