You could try www.familysearch.org or you could try looking for an online parish clerk website relating to the county you're after. Not all parishes or faiths are covered on Family Search and the searchable details don't usually include the extras that are usually noted in the actual parish records (such as occupation, address, godparents etc).
Technically, it doesn't cost anything to actually view microfilms and microfiches at the local records office relevent to whichever area you're searching - apart from the time it takes to do the research and whatever it costs to get there.
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It probably would be the area that the person you're after came from. For instance, a lot of my paternal ancestors came from the Ormskirk/West Lancashire area so I found those church records at the Lancashire Records Office, but other relatives on that side from nearer Liverpool are a bit more awkward because some Liverpool church records are kept at the Lancashire Records Office in Preston whereas others are held at th Liverpool one.
My mum's side is really confusing because they came from an area on the Lincs/Leics/Notts borders and from what I can find out, some records are kept at Lincoln, some are in Nottingham and some are in the Leicestershire and Rutland records office in Wigston in Leicestershire. It might be worth putting "records office" into a search engine along with the county you're after to see what details come up. Some records offices have online catalogues so you can see which church records for which towns/villages are held there.
I believe you can also order filmed records via the Latter Day Saints centres for a small cost but I've never tried this so I'm not sure how it works and whether they can get all records or just some.
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Lets take Kate's example of Ormskirk. Now here there are a chunk online. Here's an older Catherine:
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/indexp.html
Baptisms: 5 Feb 1809 St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk, Lancashire, England Catharine Richardson - Daughter of Francis Richardson & Ellen Abode: Lath[om] Register: Baptisms 1794 - 1812, Page 74, Entry 37 Source: LDS Film 1849663
We can do a Search - library catalog - place search from the IGI search screen using blue banner
Title Parish registers for Ormskirk, 1557-1911 Authors Church of England. Parish Church of Ormskirk (Lancashire) (Main Author) Notes The church is known as St. Peter and St. Paul Microfilm of original records in the Lancashire Record Office, Preston, England. High reduction (42x) microfilm. Use high magnification reader.
Note Location Film Baptisms, 1557-1626, marriages, 1557-1624, burials, 1557-1625; Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1626-1644; Marriages, 1669-1679, burials, 1671, baptisms, 1650, 1654 , 1660, 1657, 1649, 1650, 1652-1674, marriages, 1653-1669, burials, 1656-1675, collections, 1664-1670; Marriages, 1679-1698, baptisms, 1679-1697, burials, 1678-1698, baptisms, 1697-1698, burials, 1698-1705; Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1699-1742; Marriages 1743-1754, baptisms, burials, 1743-1770; Baptisms, burials, 1771-1812. FHL BRITISH Film 1849663 Baptisms, 1813-1844; Marriages, 1754-1837; Burials, 1813-1852; Banns, 1821-1866; Index to baptisms, marriages, burials, A-T, 1743-1770. FHL BRITISH Film 1849664 Index baptisms, marriages, burials, 1743-1770 (T-Z cont.); Indexes to baptisms, burials, 1771-1812; Index to baptisms, burials, 1813, indexes to baptisms, 1813-1844; Index to baptisms, burials, 1833-1877; Index to marriages, 1828-1840; Baptisms, 1844-1901; Marriages, 1837-1881. FHL BRITISH Film 1849665 Marriages, 1881-1911; Burials, 1853-1906; Banns, 1866-1909. FHL BRITISH Film 1849649 Items 1 - 6
Like many parishes, there's also a set of Bishops Transcripts (the church's own back-up copy). These are also at Preston
Title Bishop's transcripts for Ormskirk, 1604-1842 Authors Church of England. Parish Church of Ormskirk (Lancashire) (Main Author) Church of England. St. John's Church (Lathom) (Added Author) Notes Text in Latin and English. Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Includes baptisms of St. John, Lathom and Skelmersdale 1837-1841. Lancashire Record Office: DRL/2/332-345
Note Location Film Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1604-1641, 1657-1670. FHL BRITISH Film 1068944 Item 5 Baptisms, marriages and burials, 1671-1818. FHL BRITISH Film 1068945 Baptisms and marriages, 1819-1836, burials 1819-1834. FHL BRITISH Film 1469029 Burials, 1834-1842; baptisms and marriages, 1837-1841. FHL BRITISH Film 1469030 Items 1 - 2
So here your options to view the originals or their images are to visit Preston (NB The dioscese office isn't always in the same place/county - I looked up Beverley the other day, and the parish records were at Humberside Rec O, and the BTs in York.) or else to rent the LDS film(s) to view at your local LDS centre.
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