Genealogy Australia

The popular, 'A parish finder for England' which lists all extant and extinct parishes, chapelries and extra parochial areas in England to 1974 together with their details of origin, county, diocese at 1974 and deanery at 1974, is now available on CD-ROM. Includes full Ordnance Survey National Grid references.

This provides the researcher with a huge range of new options that can never be provided by a book. Here's some examples of how the program which is a cross platform kiosk production can be used in research.

• An old Will refers to the parish's old name eg. Wodell - parish finder tells you it is now Odell.
• Difficult to read handwriting means some letters are obscured - a wildcard search may reveal the missing parish.
• You know only the dedication of the parish church and the region - a search will reveal possible options.
• You cannot find your ancestor's records at the turn of the century in say Furze Platt BRK, parish finder quickly tells you this parish was only created in 1928 and you need to be searching the records of Cookham, Cookham Dean, Maidenhead St Luke, and Stubbings from which the parish was created.
• No map can tell you where the parish is located, parish finder can as every parish has an Ordnance Reference number, even for places not on present day maps!
• You may be a trivia buff - How many parishes in England have a church dedicated to St Benet? Parish finder has the answer - seven, and all were extinct parishes by 1974. How many London churches were destroyed in the Great Fire? Parish finder knows! Do you know which three parishes shared the same churchyard in Norfolk all with their own parish church? Parish finder does! Parish finder also has general information about the counties, sees and parishes including how to find the records generated by these bodies.

Whether you are a serious family history researcher or a trivia buff - can you afford not to own 'A Parish Finder for England'?