Bishop's Tawton, Devon Genealogy

England Devon Devon

Parish History
TAWTON, BISHOP'S (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Barnstaple, hundred of South Molton, Braunton and N. divisions of Devon, 2 miles (S. by E.) from Barnstaple. This was made the seat of the Devonshire diocese by Werstan, its first bishop, soon after his consecration in 905. He was succeeded by Putta, and then by Eadulphus, who was installed at Crediton, to which place here moved the See, and who died in 931. Some remains of the episcopal palace are still discernible, and in the churchyard are the ruins of the deanery. The church is a neat ancient structure, with a handsome stone spire, and contains some monuments to the Chichester family.

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 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

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Devon 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.