Court of the Peculiar of Isleham and Freckenham

England  Suffolk Probate Records

To read a general explanation of probates in England, click here.Click to read a definition of the word peculiar.

Step by Step

Follow these steps to look for a probate record before 1858:

1. First search each index (see "Indexes" below) to help you more quickly find the will, writing down each detail cited in the indexed entry.
2. Proceed to the "Records" section (below) to determine what probate records exist for this court.
3. Contact or visit the Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies or, hire a professional record searcher to view these records on your behalf. Officials may send upon request a list of record searchers.
4. Visit The Family History Library or one of its 4,500 satellite family history centers [1] worldwide and search the indexes; then with the information obtained from the index[es] you can search more quickly the original wills and admons on microfilm.

Indexes

Printed and Published Indexes

• Calendar of wills proved in the Archdeaconry Court at Ipswich, 1602-1660 and the Peculiar Court of Isleham and Freckenham, 1649-1731 by FS Baines.
  
• Index of beneficiaries in wills proved in the Court of the Archdeacon of Sudbury and in the Peculiar of Freckenham (incl. Isleham): from 1847 to 12 Jan. 1858 complied by the Suffolk Family History Society.

Records

Archive Location

Suffolk Record Office--Bury St. Edmunds

77 Raingate Street

Bury St. Edmunds IP33 2AR

Email: bury.ro@libher.suffolkcc.gov.uk

www.suffolk.gov.uk/SRO

Archive Records

Isleham:

Wills 1556-1857 (363 Wills) 

Administrations 1662-1851

Registered wills and administrations 1613-1636 and 1826-1854

Freckenham:

Wills 1556-1841 (78 wills) 

Administrations 1665-1817

Registered wills and administrations 1613-1636 and 1856 

 

Add information about the manuscript, printed and digital records in this location.

 

Family History Library

The Family History Library has the following records on film. Films can be view in the library or in a family history center.

Register copy wills and administrations, 1613-1856

Wills and index to wills, 1556-1852

Jurisdiction

Isleham was in the diocese of Ely, Freckenham was in the Diocese of Norwich. They were a Peculiar of the Bishop of Rochester. A few wills of Isleham and Freckenham inhabitants were evidently proved at Norwich, the latter Court claiming jurisdition during Visitations by the Bishop of Norwich. There are also a few within in the Consistory Court of Rochester, and there are register copy wills (1649-1852) and administrations (1662-1851) in the records of the Archdeaconry Court of Huntingdon.