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Discover family history

We offer expert advice to beginners and to those who are more advanced, whether your ancestors lived in Bath or elsewhere.

Paid research

If you would like help with your family history, find out about our paid research service.

Next steps

If you have traced your family as far back as you can online and found that they came from Bath or the surrounding area, we may be able to help you with more advanced sources. Two of the most useful sources are church registers and burial indexes, but there are a great many other sources which you can use. Depending on the family you are researching, street directories, wills, and records of the law courts and poor relief can all provide valuable information. Details of these and other useful sources, with lists of what we hold, can be found in the Family History guide and the Records of Official Bodies guide.

Bath Ancestors

The database covers the years 1603-1990, and contains information taken from original records held by the Record Office. The records have been indexed and transcribed by volunteers over many years, and we are very pleased that - through the efforts of Simon Caldwell, another volunteer - we have been able to make the results of their hard work available online through the Bath Ancestors database.

Bath Ancestors charges
Up to 3 digital images or 6 photocopies (includes admin fee and UK postage)	£8-00
Each additional digital image	£2-00
Each additional photocopy	30p

Bath Burial Index

Looking for the burial place of a Bath ancestor? Try the Bath Burial Index.

The Bath Burial Index, developed by Philip Bendall, is a compilation of information on burials for over 70 of Bath’s cemeteries and graveyards past and present. It is based on information from burial registers, indexes to burial registers and surveys carried out by various organisations such as The Widcombe Association, The Bathwick Local History Society and the Beckford Tower Trust. It has been facilitated by the permission of some parishes to photograph their burial registers and by the Council by providing indexes to burial registers for those cemeteries that it administers.

It brings together the information on burials in both church and municipal cemeteries into a single index so that it is easier to determine where someone was buried. This makes it an invaluable resource for family historians researching families in the Bath area. It currently (Mar-2022) has over 309,000 entries from the 1600s to present. In addition, there are over 33,000 images of surviving memorials. Where a survey has been carried out, the index indicates whether or not there is a memorial and has additional information from the inscriptions. There are a hundred maps of cemeteries, both overall and detailed, to allow the exact location of a grave to be determined in many cases.

Search the Bath Burial Index

About the Bath Burial Index

Summary

The Bath Burial Index, developed by Philip Bendall, is a compilation of information on burials for over 100 cemeteries and graveyards past and present in Bath and its surrounds. It is based on information from burial registers, indexes to burial registers and surveys carried out by various organisations such as The Widcombe Association, The Bathwick Local History Society and the Beckford Tower Trust. It has been facilitated by the permission of some parishes to photograph their burial registers and by the Council for providing indexes to burial registers for those cemeteries that it administers.

It brings together the information on burials in both church and municipal cemeteries into a single index so that it is easier to determine where someone was buried. It currently has over 350,000 entries from 1600 to present. In addition, there are over 32,000 images of surviving memorials. Where a survey has been carried out, the index indicates whether or not there is a memorial and has additional information from the inscriptions. There are a hundred maps of cemeteries, both overall and detailed, to allow the location of a grave to be determined.

Bath's cemeteries

In terms of geography, the limits are:

North: St Catherine
South: Frome
West: Chew Stoke
East: Bathford, Claverton.

The following map shows the scope of the coverage (red - in index; yellow - work-in-progress; blue - historical registers transcribed but no survey yet carried out):

The disc with 'PSJ' represents Peasedown St John, a parish created in 1874 from parts of Dunkerton, Camerton and Wellow. 'MHC' the Mendip Hospital Cemetery and 'HPC' Harptree Cemetery..

Prior to 1813, when statutory burial registers with preprinted columns were made mandatory, the presence of an age for the entry depended on the parish clerk. Where possible missing ages have been added from information obtained from a memorial or a death notice. From when the index contained about 245K records:

Age present	202,194	82.59%
Abode present	117,644	48.06%
Country of birth present	35,563	14.53%
Entries with notes	92,825	37.92%
Occupation present	11.291	4.61%
Grave location present	116,540	47.61%
Name on memorial	49,651	20.28%

The place of residence (‘abode’ in the registers) of someone buried is present from 1813 but often is just the name of the parish. The abode is absent where, for the municipal cemeteries, only the indexes and not the burial registers themselves can be accessed. Some have been able to be added by reference to the grant of probate.

BBI Nr by Year 20170628

Number of burials per year

The increase in numbers during the 1700s reflects the growth in Bath’s population during that period. The peak in 1837 arose from a Europe-wide outbreak of influenza. The diminution in numbers per year from the late 1800s is mainly due to the reduction in child mortality. The following graph shows this:

BBI Nr by year by age

Percentage of burials by age range

From the 1950s, the increasing use of cremation with scattering of ashes means that of the 2,000 cremations per year at Haycombe only those with burial of ashes can be documented.

There is a wide variation in child mortality and longevity between the cemeteries:

BBI Correlation

Disclaimer

The information in the Bath Burial Index comes from numerous burial registers, burial order books, transcriptions and surveys of cemeteries. All the sources of information have their limitations and can have errors and omissions.

Background

The impetus behind developing the Bath Burial Index was the recognition that to try and find the grave of a relative in one of Bath’s cemeteries is not simple.

The records are scattered across a number of organisations: the Council, parishes and in documentation produced by local historical groups. Many of the parish burial registers are unindexed. The Council’s facilities only allow you to specify a name, a year and a cemetery and for a charge (in 2016 £35, currently £40) it will supply the location. If you have picked the wrong cemetery there is no refund. Documentation lodged with Bath Record Office is only available during its limited opening hours. With over 40 cemeteries in the Bath area it is no easy task to identify a burial.

Bath Abbey Cemetery had been surveyed in 2006-2008, St Mary’s, Bathwick in 2009 and Lansdown 2008-. In 2011 the information from these three cemeteries was put together to form the basis of a composite index. However, this represented only 60,000 records. Index information for four of the cemeteries administered by the Council was then obtained for the cost of scanning. Access to the burial registers under a Freedom of Information request to the Council was not permitted on the grounds that they contain information on living people who have inherited a grave. The index information does not contain the ages and these have had to be determined by finding the corresponding death registration. The indexes also do not have the abodes, some of which have been obtained from the index to grants of probate. Months of work ensued, involving transcribing from the images, adding ages, etc. For two out of the four cemeteries a survey was undertaken to determine whether or not there was a surviving memorial. By May 2012 the number of records in the index had risen to 96,000.

The unindexed parish burial registers for a series of parishes were transcribed and to this were added the records of those parishes which had been documented. By July 2013 the number of records had increased to 199,000.

BBI Progress

Numbers of records by time

In November 2013 the Council supplied the index records for three more cemeteries for which there was no information. The records were transcribed and missing ages added. By March 2014, the number of records had increased to 235,000 records. Surveys of the three cemeteries were undertaken, maps produced and the records updated where the names appear on a memorial.

In order to determine whether or not it would ever be possible to add the missing information to the records and resolve anomalies in the index data, the Council was asked in 2014 whether the burial registers could be accessed, but this was refused on Data Protection grounds.

For the Walcot section of Locksbrook Cemetery, the B&NES Bereavement Services website states that it is only possible to determine whether and where an individual is buried, not who else may be buried in the same grave. Having already transcribed the summary information it would be possible for this project to add the locations from the burial register and then sort by location but in the absence of information on the grave numbering scheme the result of surveying is limited.

Limitations

The development of the index has taken over seven years and made use of a variety of resources on the documentation of cemeteries. Some resources such as parish registers are limited in their scope of dates. For a number of graveyards there is no book showing who was buried where.

Locksbrook Cemetery – Walcot Section

Access to the full burial registers is not permitted by B&NES Bereavement Services, and the index that was provided does not have the locations of the burials, the burial dates or ages. Therefore ages have been added by attempting to find the corresponding death registration, which is not always possible. Without the burial locations it is not possible to produce a map showing where people are buried, and whether there is memorial or not. A survey could establish that a memorial exists but, without the numbering scheme, this would of limited use. A start has been made on surveying to establish the general layout and presence of memorials and some draft maps have been produced. However, identifiers cannot be added to each grave without access to the burial registers which have this information.

Access to the registers was granted in 2023 and addition of the missing information completed by Jan 2024.

Locksbrook Cemetery – Weston Section

The index information only has the locations for some burials. A survey has established the numbering scheme but it is not possible to identify all burial locations.

Batheaston

The burial register for the period 1904-1942 has not been found. Entries for this period are limited to those for which there is a memorial.

Haycombe

The index obtained for this cemetery has the burial locations but is missing over 10,000 ages. The missing ages have therefore been added in over 95% of cases. This checking and a survey have found a large number of discrepancies. Some names are incorrect having the name of the person organising the burial rather than that of the individual buried. In other cases, the forenames have been truncated. In addition there are memorials for which there is no corresponding entry in the index. As far as possible the errors have been corrected but a residue remains.

Langridge and Woolley

The whereabouts of various registers have yet to be established.

Moravian Burial Ground

The information at Bath Record Office is limited to a list and an annotated map. The original books in London need to be transcribed to obtain the full list.

BBI FAQs

1 I have found a burial for Locksbrook St Swithin’s but there is no grave reference. Why is this?

In 2012 the index to the burial registers was available to volunteers but not the burial registers themselves. For most of the indexes there are no burial locations, abodes or even the ages – just the names and year. Burial locations only exist in the index from 1960 to 1998. Scanned images of the burial registers became available in July 2023 and the grave references are being added progressively.

Some memorials have masons’ inscriptions giving the location and others have been deduced. Names on memorials have been found for 1,583 (5%) of the burial entries. Locations have been established for only about 600 (2%) of the >29,000 burial entries.

2 Some burials for Locksbrook St Saviour’s have locations which don’t appear on the map. Which map should I be using?

It would seem that St Saviour’s carried out some burials in the St Swithin’s section of Locksbrook cemetery. Section letters other than A, B, C and D indicate that the Swithin’s map should be used. For example, a burial in the St Saviour’s index has the location as L.GG.197 and this is actually in the St Swithin’s section L.

3 Why are some ages missing?

Prior to 1813, when statutory burial registers were introduced and ages entered, it depended on the parish whether or not the age was put in the burial entry. For municipal cemeteries the indexes supplied didn’t have ages and these have had to be added by reference to the corresponding General Register Office death registration index. It is not always possible to make an unequivocal match and in such cases the age cannot be determined.

4 For Perrymead cemetery why do some entries indicate a burial but there is no location?

The information for this cemetery comes from a series of burial registers, a surname index and a grave index. There are entries in the burial registers stating that the burial occurred at Perrymead but the name does not occur in the grave index. Also the surname index has burials without a location being specified.

5 Why do burials for Swainswick only have an indication of whether the old or new burial ground?

The numbering scheme for the two burial grounds has yet to be determined. The burial registers for the new burial ground use two different conventions and it is not possible to assign numbers to all the plots. For the old burial ground a detailed map is needed.

6 For Lyncombe & Widcombe and St James Cemetery a memorial used to exist but I can’t find it on the map. Is it still there?

A survey which was carried out in the 1980s indicated more memorials than have been found. In the intervening decades it would seem that some memorials have been overwhelmed by grass. A trial was done on an area where the previous survey indicated that a memorial should be present and a slab was found under 10cm of turf. It is quite possible that other slabs are similarly buried.

7 Is Bath the only English city with such a comprehensive set of burial records available online without a charge?

It would seem so.

From searching the websites for 51 English cities, none have records for Anglican, non-Anglican and municipal cemeteries all in one place. Those that have online facilities are typically for municipal cemeteries not the church-based ones (eg Manchester). Many require a paper submission of an application form to locate a grave for which a charge is made. The charges per name vary: Salisbury £30, Salford £16, Plymouth £10, Leicester £32. Others (eg Birmingham, Lancaster, Preston) require a personal visit to consult the registers. A small number of cities (eg Bradford, Cambridge, Chester) make use of an online facility at deceasedonline.com for their records (usually municipal cemeteries only), for which there is a charge for a detailed record and other charges for maps.

As reported in various newspaper articles from early 2020, the Church of England intends to use laser-scanning by Atlantic Geomatics to map burial grounds (the 'National Burial Grounds Survey') and make them free to search online via the ‘Church Heritage Record’. A trial was conducted for two parishes in Yorkshire in the Leeds diocese. By May 2020 there were 16,000 records on church buildings and an unknown number of burial records. It is claimed that it will take eight years to complete this project for the 42 Anglican dioceses in England. It is understood that non-Anglican graveyards and municipal cemeteries are not included.

8 On some maps why is the name on the plot followed by ‘etc’.

For some cemeteries many graves are ‘common’ ones with maybe four or more unrelated individuals buried in the same grave. It is not possible to list all the surnames on the map and, in such cases, the first surname is given followed by 'etc'. For example, for Lyncombe & Widcombe and St James, 80% of burials do not have a memorial and many are common graves.

9 Since the launch of the online version on 1-Nov-2016 what has changed?

Addition of Corston (Dec-2016)
Addition of Saltford (Mar-2017)
Addition of Hinton Charterhouse (Apr-2017)
Extension of the range of years for St Swithin’s so that records start from 1711 rather than 1801 (Apr-2017)
Addition of details for records for Weston since 1970, addition of a map and a list of inscriptions provided by the church (Apr-2017)
Addition of records from 1813 for Langridge (May-2017)
Addition of St Luke's memorials (May-2017)
Addition of map showing sections for Batheaston (May-2017)
Addition of Englishcombe (Jun-2017)
Addition of document of St Mary Magdalen burials (Jul-2017)
Updated version of Baptist Burial Ground document which now includes Manvers St Church MIs (Sep 2017)
Addition of Stanton Prior (Oct-2017)
Addition of documentation of inscriptions and a map for St Catherine (Nov 2017)
Addition of documentation of inscriptions and a map for Englishcombe (Nov 2017)
Addition of section maps for Batheaston (Dec 2017)
Addition of index documents for Bath Abbey (Jan 2018)
Addition of Combe Hay (Jan 2018)
Updated documents on Sections 1, 2, 4 & Garden for Bath Abbey Cemetery (Jan 2018)
Addition of maps of cremations plots at Weston (Feb 2018)
Addition of North Stoke (May 2018)
Addition of map showing wall memorial sections for the Abbey (May 2018)
Addition of records for Dunkerton (May 2018)
Addition of draft maps for Sections P & Q of Locksbrook (May 2018)
Addition of records for Chew Stoke (May 2018)
Addition of map and document for North Stoke (Jun 2018)
Addition of records for Marksbury (Jun 2018)
Addition of records for Tellisford (Jun 2018)
Addition of Laverton (Jun 2018)
Addition of Woolverton (Jul 2018)
Updated memorial document for Englishcombe (Jul 2018)
Addition of map for St Michael's, Twerton (Aug 2018)
Addition of records for Farleigh Hungerford (Aug 2018)
Addition of document and map for Farleigh Hungerford (Sep 2018)
Addition of document for Tellisford (Dec 2018)
Addition of document for Marksbury (Dec 2018)
Addition of Hemington (Dec 2018)
Addition of records for Lullington (Mar 2019)
Addition of records for Orchardleigh (Mar 2019)
Addition of records for Berkley (Apr 2019)
Addition of records for Keynsham (Anglican) (May 2019)
Addition of records for Keynsham Cemetery (May 2019)
Addition of Withyditch Baptist Chapel (Jul 2019)
Addtion of records for Paulton Cemetery (Jul 2019)
Addition of Chelwood (Feb 2020, loaded Nov 2020)
Addition of Cameley (Feb 2020, loaded Nov 2020)
Addition of Beckington (Feb 2020, loaded Nov 2020)
Addition of Compton Dando (Jun 2020, loaded Nov 2020)
Addition of draft document on memorials at Woolverton (May 2020)
Addition of draft document on memorials at Chew Stoke (Jul 2020)
Addition of draft document on memorials at St Saviour's (Aug 2020)
Update to St Michael's Lwr Weston document on consecrated section (Sep 2020)
Addition of draft document on St Swithin's mausoleum (Mar 2021)
Addition of document on memorials at Wellow & Shoscombe Cemetery (Apr 2021)
Addition of draft document on memorials at Dunkerton (Jun 2021)
Addition of draft document on memorials at Freshford (Jul 2021)
Addition of draft document on memorials at Swainswick (Aug 2021)
Addition of images for Dunkerton (Nov 2021)
Addition of Burnett (Nov 2021)
Addition of Priston (Nov 2021)
Addition of document on Locksbrook Fee Books (Jun 2022)
Addition of Stratton-on-the-Fosse: St Vigor (Jun 2022)
Addition of Stratton-on-the-Fosse: St Benedict (Jun 2022)
Addition of Limpley Stoke (Jun 2022)
Updates to Perrymead cemetery documentation (Sep 2022)
Addition of Stanton Drew (Jul 2023)
Addition of Frome: Congregational and Baptist (Jun 2023)
Addition of Frome Wesleyan (Nov 2023)
Updates to Locksbrook (St Swithin's) adding information from the registers (completed Jan 2024)
Updates to Locksbrook (Weston) adding information from registers (completed Feb 2024)
Addition of Harptree Cemetery (Feb 2024)
Addition of Haycombe 2013-2023 (Mar 2024)
Updates to Locksbrook St Saviours (LKX) with register information (Jun 2024)
Updates to Lyncombe & Widcombe and St James (LWJ) with register information for entries 1-11001 (Sep 2024)
Addition of Foxcote (Sep-2024)
Addition of Peasedown St John: Anglican (Oct-2024)
Addition of Stowey (Oct-2024)

10 For dates before 1752 are they old or new style?

All are old style, ie Julian, as given in the register.

11 For the places of birth, what are the three-character codes?

For countries they are the ISO codes (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-3), for counties, the Chapman codes (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapman_code).

12 Why are some of the burial records annotated with a ‘P’?

Taxes on parish register entries were levied in the period 1695-1706 and again in 1783-1794 when a duty of 3d was imposed on every register entry. For the latter period, the poor were exempt and an annotation of ‘P’ made against the entry to indicate this. In some registers it is more explicit with ‘poor’ or 'pauper'.

13 Why is the Bath Burial Index different from the photographic surveys that have been undertaken?

Photographic surveys have been conducted by a couple of projects and the results put online. This approach captures the names on memorials. The major limitation is that it is limited to the memorials and doesn’t take into account those without memorials. For Bath and the surrounding area only about 20% of those buried have names on memorials. Comparison between entries from photographic surveys with burial register entries has identified cases of 1) names on memorials for people not buried there (mainly spouses buried elsewhere) and 2) mis-readings of years.

As an example of the dangers of relying solely on names on memorials, a memorial has ‘Frederick Emery and his daughter Gladys’. In fact, his daughter was married and her name was ‘Sybil Gladys Kingman’ and not ‘Gladys Emery’. Moreover, the two years of birth on the memorial are incorrect.

The approach for the Bath Burial Index is to use the burial register entries as the basis to which additional information from memorials is added.

Venn diagram

14 Some maps are slow to load into a browser, what can I do?

Use the 'save as' function in the browser to save the file(s) to your computer and then use your conventional image display or pdf application to view the map. Browsers are not always adept at zooming in and out smoothly whereas image display and pdf viewing applications are usually better.

15 Why are the measurements on the maps in feet?

The people building the churches and laying out the graveyards operated in feet and, usually, dimensions are simple multiples of feet. Thus, many graves are 7 feet by 3 feet with a 1 foot gap and double graves are 7 feet by 7 feet.

16 The maps have indications of the shape of the memorials. What do the symbols mean?

The most common ones are:

	Kerbstones with a feature at the head, usually a cross on three plinths.
	Pitched 4 ways.
	Pitched 2 ways.
	Pitched in the form of a cross.
	Headstone with kerbstones.
	Headstone without kerbstones.
	A slab or an altar/chest tomb.
	Kerbstones
	Kerbstones with a freestanding plaque.
	Kerbstones with a plaque in the form of an open book.
	Edging with an integral plaque at the foot and an integral square vase at the head.
	Kerbstones with a cross resting on a rock.
	A slab or altar /chest tomb with a raised cross on the upper surface.
	Headstone on a base with an integral round vase in the base.
	Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone.

BBI Acknowledgements


St Swithin’s, Bath	for permission to photograph burial records
St John the Evangelist, South Parade, Bath	for permission to photograph burial registers and grave indexes
St John the Evangelist, Batheaston	for permission to photograph burial registers for Batheaston and St Catherine
Bath Abbey Archives	for permission to photograph burial entries for Bath Abbey Cemetery
Holy Trinity, Newton St Loe	for permission to photograph burial entries for the parish
Somerset Record Office	for permission to photograph burial registers for several parishes
Widcombe Association	for permission to use material on burials at Bath Abbey Cemetery, Perrymead, St Mark’s, Lyncombe Widcombe & St James and St Thomas à Becket
Bathwick Local History Society	for permission to use material on burials at St Mary’s Churchyard and Smallcombe Vale Cemetery
St Mary's, Bathwick	for permission to photograph burial registers
Bath Preservation Trust	for permission use material on burials at Lansdown Cemetery
St Mary the Virgin, Swainswick	for permission to photograph burial registers and a grave index
St Stephen's, Bath	for permission to photograph a burial register for Charlcombe
Union Chapel, Combe Down	for providing a transcript of the burial register
Holy Trinity Church, Combe Down	for permission to photograph the burial registers for Monkton Combe
The Bathford Society	for supplying a transcript of a burial register for Bathford
Freshford Parish Council	for permission to photograph the burial register for its cemetery
Wellow & Shoscombe Joint Burial Board	for permission to photograph the burial register and associated indexes
All Saints, Corston	for permission to photograph a burial register
St John the Baptist, Hinton Charterhouse	for permission to photograph a burial register
St Nicholas, Kelston	for permission to photograph a burial register
The Prior Foundation	for facilitation of the photographing of memorials at Prior Park
St Peter's, Englishcombe	for permission to photograph a burial register
St Mary's, Saltford	for permission to photograph a burial register and facilitation of the photographing of the internal memorials
All Saints, Weston	for permission to photograph burial registers for Weston, Langridge and North Stoke and provision of a map of Weston churchyard
All Saints, Dunkerton	for permission to photograph a burial register
Combe Hay	for permission to photograph a burial register
Benefice of Farmborough, Marksbury & Stanton Prior	for permission to photograph burial registers
St Andrew's, Chew Stoke	for permission to photograph a burial register and facilitation of the survey
St Nicholas, Bathampton	for permission to photograph the Claverton burial register
SS Philip & James, Norton St Philip	for supplying a copy of a burial register
All Saints, Tellisford	for permission to photograph a burial register and facilitation of the survey
St Mary's, Laverton	for permission to photograph a burial register
St Lawrence, Farleigh Hungerford	for permission to photograph a burial register and facilitation of the photographing of the internal memorials
St Mary's, Hemington	for permission to photograph a burial register
Benefice of Clutton with Cameley	for permission to photograph burial registers and for a conducted tour of the churches
Paulton Parish Council	for permission to photograph burial registers and grave indexes
Keynsham Town Council	for permission to photograph burial registers and grave indexes
St Mary's, Berkley	for permission to photograph a burial register
St George's, Beckington	for permission to photograph a burial register
St Mary's, Compton Dando	for permission to photograph a burial register
St Michael's, Burnett	for permission to photograph a burial register and facilitation of the photographing of internal memorials
St Luke & St Andrew, Priston	for permission to photograph a burial register
St Mary's, Timsbury	for permission to photograph burial registers and allied documentation
Stratton-on-the-Fosse: St Vigor's	for permission to photograph a burial register
Stratton-on-the-Fosse: St Gregory's	for providing a list of burials
Chewton Mendip	for providing images of a burial register
Emborough	for providing images of a burial register
Ston Easton	for permission to photograph a burial register
Limpley Stoke	for permission to photograph a burial register and faciltating access to some internal memorials
Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, Chippenham	for allowing the photographing of part of a burial register
Farrington Gurney	for allowing the photographing of a burial register
High LIttleton	for allowing the photographing of burial registers
Mendip Hospital Cemetery	for providing burial register entries
Frome St John's	for providing burial register entries and associated documents
Frome Christ Church	for providing burial register entries and the results of a previous survey
Babington	for giving access to a burial register
Peasedown	St J's group for giving access to the grave registers
Foxcote	St J's group for giving access to the burial register
B&NES Bereavement Services	for permission to photograph one set of burial registers and for the provision of indexes to burial registers for seven cemeteries

I am also grateful those members of the public who I have met in various cemeteries who have given encouragement.

BBI Endorsements

Bath in Time Facebook 9-Sep-2016

A post from Johnny Branston from another group that might be of interest here:

Some of you dyed-in-the-wool Bathonians might be interest to know that burial indexes for all the city’s cemeteries are now online and fully searchable. A family grave I have searched for (but assumed lost in the mists of time) was listed with a map and a photo and I was able to find it easily on the way home from work. Find you family… Literally!

Twitter BPT@BathPresTrust 1 Nov 1026 Bath Preservation Trust

Great to see the amazing Bath Burial Index launched &bathnes #recordoffice #family history

From Widcombe Association

Bath Burial Index – Phil Bendall has done an amazing amount of work on this, Information for the surveys of cemeteries has been combined with burial register entries to produce this composite index of burial in over 40 of Bath’s cemeteries. For more information visit the Bath Record Office website. Our thanks go to Phil for all the hard work he has out in over the years.

From The Survey of Bath and District No.31, 2016 p2 in a report on the Bath Record Office

The major addition to our online resources in 2016 was the Bath Burial Index, an immense database of nearly a quarter of a million names of persons buried in Bath over the past four centuries. The entire content is the work of one dedicated volunteer Dr. Philip Bendall who has freely donated this resource for the benefit of researchers worldwide.

From Bath Magazine Sep 2016 p20:

Thanks to the hard work of volunteer Philip Bendall Bathonians will be able to trace their family history online using the Bath Burial Index. The index, which can be found via Bath and North East Somerset Council’s batharchives.co.uk, contains a compilation of information on burials at 48 of Bath’s cemeteries and graveyards, past and present. It currently has more than 240,000 entries, from 1660 to the present day, plus more than 30,000 images of surviving memorials.

From Bath Magazine Sep 2017 p66:

Volunteers play an important part of keeping the archive alive and accessible to the public, and extra hands are always welcome. Certainly the dedication shows through with projects such as The Bath Burial Index online which is the work of one single volunteer – Philip Bendall, who has spent eight years compiling more than 260,000 entries for burial in more than 50 of Bath’s cemeteries . . . and he’s still not finished.

From the University of Bath’s Centre for Death & Society

https://www.bath.ac.uk/publications/centre-for-death-society-newsletters-2016/attachments/cdasnewsletter-december2016.pdf

The Bath Burial Index was launched on 1st November 2016 at a reception in Bath's Guildhall. Bath is possibly the only UK city to have an online searchable index of all burials - in church, municipal and private burial grounds. The index is the initiative of Bath resident Phil Bendall and results from ten years of his painstaking work recording and photographing on the ground and in archives - a testimony to what can be achieved by one passionate, indefatigable person.

From online Bath Newseum https://bathnewseum.com/2022/04/04/a-66-million-year-old-headstone/ in an article entitled ‘A 66 million-year-old headstone’:

The inscription was unreadable, so who was this person, a famous geologist or palaeontologist? Consulting the excellent Bath Burial Index, available online from Bath Record Office, was difficult without a name In the end I drew a plan of the area of the mystery grave – adding the inscriptions that could be read.

I compared this with the Record Office maps and register. I was finally able to identify the incumbents.

From the B&NES Bereavement Services online burial search application form at https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Burial%20Search%20Application%20Form%202022-2023.pdf

Before requesting a search with us we suggest you try to find the information you seek online. If you are in need of basic details such as full name or year of death we suggest www.bathbmd.org.uk/deathsearch.php as a starting point. It is also worth searching www.batharchives.co.uk/burial-index as this is a particularly useful site and may be able to provide you with burial details.

From Bath Abbey's Monuments: An Illustrated History by Oliver Taylor (The History Press, 2023):

For a history of burial in Bath, readers would do well to consult the Bath Burial Index.

Georgian Newspaper Project

Find out about life in Georgian Bath.

The Bath Chronicle has been a feature of life in Bath since 1760. Newspapers from the past, with their news articles, advertisements and notices, give us a fascinating insight into life at different periods and provide information that can’t be found elsewhere.

Thanks to the hard work of a team of volunteers, you can now search selected Georgian Bath Chronicle newspapers between 1770 and 1799. The contents were hand-indexed, thus minimising the errors that are common in computer-scanning of newspapers from this era. Not all papers in this date range were indexed as the project was ended before it could be completed.

The results are shown as a summary of the newspaper entry. It does not show the complete text of the entry. If you wish a copy of an item, please request a copy following these instructions. Confirmation of the costs will be made before your order is finalised.

Search the Georgian Newspaper Project database.

Church Registers

Church registers record baptism, marriages and burials of a parish or church’s congregation.

They are a vital source of information for family history before the introduction of the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in July 1837.

Holdings

Details of what registers are accessible online and in print at the Record Office can be found in the guide to Church Registers leaflet.

Church Registers Guide

(PDF, 189.32 KB)

We have access to Ancestry and Find My Past subscription websites, and you can access any of the free websites whilst online.

Summary

Online: The original Anglican parish registers are held at the Somerset Heritage Centre and are now available online through Ancestry. Transcripts of many registers (including non-conformist) are available on www.freereg.org.uk and those deposited at The National Archives through www.familysearch.org (mainly non-conformist and Bishop’s Transcripts).

Transcripts and indexes: There are several printed transcripts available at the Record Office as well as those online.

Microfiche: We have all the Bath & North East Somerset Anglican parishes on microfiche, along with a selection of neighbouring Somerset parishes.

History of Church Registers

Since the 16th century Anglican churches have been required to keep registers of the baptism, marriages and burials within their parish, although not all registers survive that far back. Until the 18th century all events were usually recorded in the same register, the form of the record depending upon the priest, so details may vary between parishes.

In 1754 marriages in England and Wales were required to be conducted in an Anglican church by an Anglican priest to be legal, and many parishes started keeping separate marriage registers from around this date. In 1812, in an attempt to regularise the records, parishes were provided with pre-printed registers – one each for baptism, marriage or burial – so every priest recorded the same information.

Non-conformist churches grew in number in the 18th century, particularly in Bath, and they also often held their own registers outside the Anglican parish system. Because of the legal requirement to marry in an Anglican church, most non-conformist churches did not record marriages although some may have held their own service conforming to their own rites. Baptisms and burials (if there was an associated burial ground) were often the only registers kept.

Online Resources

We provide Wi-Fi and have computers available for public use, all free of charge, which you can use to research your family history. There is no charge for using the computers or any websites.

There are an increasing number of records available online to support family history research and many of them are available on these websites. If you are having difficulty finding the resources or want advice on where else to look, please ask a member of staff.

Subscription websites

We maintain subscriptions to three database websites so you can access them for free:

Ancestry Library

Find My Past

British Newspaper Archive

Please note, as we are restricted to a single user logging in to Find My Past at one time, please contact us in advance to book to use this database. It is also recommended that you book a place if your time in the Record Office is restricted, and you wish to secure a computer for use. We have free Wi-Fi in the search rooms.

Non-subscription websites

These are some of the free sites that the staff use regularly for their research:

FreeBMD, FreeREG, FreeCEN

BathBMD

Bath Historical Directories

Know Your Place (maps)

National Library of Scotland’s Map Project

Library online resources

Explore Bath's world heritage

Other things to do in Bath

Family history

We offer expert advice to beginners and to those who are more advanced, whether your ancestors lived in Bath or elsewhere.

Paid research

Next steps

Bath Burial Index

Looking for the burial place of a Bath ancestor? Try the Bath Burial Index.

About the Bath Burial Index

Disclaimer

Background

Limitations

Locksbrook Cemetery – Walcot Section

Locksbrook Cemetery – Weston Section

Batheaston

Haycombe

Langridge and Woolley

Moravian Burial Ground

Find out about life in Georgian Bath.

Church Registers