General Chat

Hi 2 months ago I contacted a vicar of a church where I knew some of my anncestors had been christened and asked if he still had the parish records there, he did and he said he would send me the details within 3 weeks, anyway a month ago as I hadnt heard anything so I decided to order the parish record from my local LDS centre and went and viewed them today, but there wasnt much info on it. I got home today to find that the vicar has finally done my search and provided me with the same info I got for my £3.80 payment to LDS, but he said his charge is £15. I dont mind paying something, but £15 seems abit extreme especially as I have already got the info as I had got feed up of waiting. What does everyone else think?

In the letter he sent to me he did write "I'm supposed to charge you £15 for the search! cheque payable to" etc etc, so I dont know if hes expecting me to send him £15 or if hes saying thats how much he should be charging me.

I have to admit I've never asked a vicar to look up records for me, but on a visit to Sweffling a couple of years ago, I went in to the church and asked two lovely ladies about parish records. They showed me to a chest and told me to help myself, then gave me a history of the village - one church was for Roundhead supporters, the other for Royalists. Transpires my relations were Royalist supporters!

I contacted the vicar in Taynton Oxfordshire about a family member who married one of his parishoners and the curate sent me a complete history of that family with dates of all marriages baptisms and burials for free and said how much he'd enjoyed doing it. I didnt expect that much info but was very pleased to see it and hope at some point to visit the church and leave a donation. I would send a amount you can afford as a donation for his efforts as the wording is not demanding rather a intamation of a amount. Debbi

I believe there are statutory fees (I suppose they are at the discretion of the staff at the individual church) set out by the Church of England. Some churches post them inside the church. Not positive, but think it is something like £15 for the first hour, then £12 for each additional hour. If you have searched yourself, you will know how time consuming it can be, so I suppose you are really paying for the vicar/clerk's time. I wonder how it compares to the fee of a professional researcher though?? Hope this helps a bit! Maz. XX

You're right Maz, the 'statutory fee' for the first hour is £15. Of this £9 is vicar's fee, £6 goes to parochial church council. The vicar has to declare her/his fee to the diocese and they then deduct that amount from stipend so she/he doesn't profit. Judith

I was lucky then, the RC priest I contacted sent me a whole lot of names with baptismal and birth dates free, within a few weeks of contacting him. I did send him a cheque after for his trouble, seemed only fair. I know priests are busy,but honestly they are sitting on a goldmine, think how many church roofs etc, could be repaired if they offered to do parish lookups for a nominal sum.