Bere Ferrers with Bere Alston, Devon Genealogy

Parish History
BEER-FERRIS (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Tavistock, hundred of Roborough, Tavistock and S. divisions of Devon, 7½ miles (S. by W.) from Tavistock; comprising the ancient borough of Beer Alston.

BEER-ALSTON, formerly a borough and market town, in the parish of Beer-Ferris, union of Tavistock, hundred of Roborough, Tavistock and S. divisions of Devon, 14 miles (N.) from Plymouth. The Independents and Wesleyans have places of worship here.

Mining in a Medieval Landscape: The Royal Silver Mines of the Tamar Valley.
By Steven Rippon, Peter Clughton and Chris Smart. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. 2009. pbk ISBN 978 0 85989 828 7. The parish was at one time the center of England silver mining, The mines opened in 1292 under direct Crown control until 1349 whereupon they were leased out until they closed in the 16th century. The book puts the mines into local and national historical context. Contains a discussion of experienced hard rock miners being brought in from the Peak District (Derbyshire) and Northeast Wales to work the mine. There are numerous maps, aerial and land photographs of the parish. Extensive bibliography of manuscripts and published resources.

Civil Registration
Births, 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
Overview, Include information for parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts, Contact information for the office holding the original records, Links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Census records
Overview, Include any unique information such as, the census for X year was destroyed, Collection in FHL and link to catalog, Online sites.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to [county] 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
There are many maps and gazetteers showing English places. Valuable web sites are:


 * 1851 Jurisdiction Maps
 * Vision of Britain

1737 Estate Map
Annotated photograph of 1737 estate map of area around Whitsam showing fields and who farmed them. Fig 6.16, p. 151 inMining in a Medieval Landscape: The Royal Silver Mines of the Tamar Valley. By Steven Rippon, Peter Clughton and Chris Smart. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. 2009. The original is identified as a Plan of the Manor of Bere Ferrers surveyed for Lord Hobart, 1737 in the Mount Edgecumbe Papers, Cornwall Record Office - ME2424.

19th Century Map
Map showing and naming all groups of cottages and farmsteads in the parish, created from 6" to 1 mile edition of map. Text suggests that most of the places have been in existance since the medieval period - Fig. 6.13, page 146 of Mining in a Medieval Landscape: The Royal Silver Mines of the Tamar Valley. By Steven Rippon, Peter Clughton and Chris Smart. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. 2009.

Web sites
Add here any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.