See also: Archdeaconry of Huntingdon

Bishops transcripts (BTs for short) were copies of parish registers made by the incumbents and sent at yearly intervals to the Diocesan office. There are often many discrepancies between a parish church's own registers and the copies sent to the Bishop.

Cambridgeshire

Most Cambridgeshire parishes fell within the Diocese of Ely and the Bishops’ Transcripts, generally dating from 1599, are held with the Ely Diocesan Records at Cambridge University Library. BT’s for Isleham in the Peculiar of Isleham and Freckenham are also available there.

Many of the parish register transcripts available in the searchroom have been checked against the Bishops’ Transcripts and most marriages from BTs have been included in Boyd’s Marriage index and supplements.

Bishops’ Transcripts for the 14 parishes in the Archdeaconry of Sudbury are at the Bury St. Edmunds’ branch of the Suffolk Record Office but the following microfilm is available at Cambridgeshire Archives:

• Burwell:1567-1641, 1663-99
• Cheveley: 1567-1641, 1663-99
• Chippenham:1567-1641, 1663-99
• Wood Ditton: 1569-1641, 1663-99
• Fordham:1567-1641, 1663-99
• Kirtling: 1570-1640, 1665-99
• Newmarket, All Saints: 1594-1640, 1665-99
• Newmarket, St. Mary: 1563-1641, 1663-99
• Snailwell: 1570-1641, 1663-99
• Soham: 1563-1641, 1663-99
• Wicken: 1599-1700
  

BT’s for those Cambridgeshire parishes in the Archdeaconry of Norfolk i.e. Outwell, Upwell and Welney are at the Norfolk Record Office.

Huntingdonshire

Most Huntingdonshire BTs survive from 1604 until about 1858 or 1859, although usually with many large gaps. Before 1825 they were sent to the Diocesan Registry at Lincoln; thereafter they were sent to the Archdeaconry Office in Huntingdon, and most of the earlier transcripts were transferred shortly afterwards (although some of the very early ones did not transfer until 1938). There is a notice of the 1825 change pasted in the Great Catworth baptism register for the period (HP14/1/2/1).

The catalogue of Bishops Transcripts at  Huntingdonshire Archives is available online as part of our CALM database. Please follow the link in the righthand column.