Up until 1533 the established church in England was the Catholic Church. However, following the Act of Uniformity in 1559, the Church of England became the established church. From this date, people who did not belong to the established church were known as ‘nonconformists’.

What records survive?

Early nonconformist groups, facing persecution and uncertainty, were often reluctant to create many records. The Quakers (or Society of Friends) are the main exception to this, but generally only a few early nonconformist records have survived, the majority dating from the nineteenth century. Records that survive for the various denominations in Somerset can be categorised as follows:

• registers
• minutes of church meetings
• records about church property and finance
• records of church societies
• church histories and printed items, including magazines

With the exception of the Quaker records (ref. DD/SFR* and A/ACZ/1) and Roman Catholic records (ref. D/RC/*), most of the nonconformist records held at the Somerset Heritage Centre have been listed under the reference D/N/*. Lists to all of these records can be found on the ‘Browse collections’ section of our online catalogue, under the heading ‘Ecclesiastical Records’. A list of the nonconformist registers we hold (with the exception of Quaker and Roman Catholic registers) can also be found in our ‘Nonconformist Register Index’ (available in our searchroom).

Church and chapel registers

The Somerset Heritage Centre holds some registers (or microfilm copies) for the following denominations:

• Baptist
• Roman Catholic
• Congregationalist (Independents and United Reformed Church)
• Presbyterian
• Quakers (Society of Friends)
• 'Free Churches'
• Methodist
• Unitarians

Pre 1837 registers

In 1837 nonconformists were asked to deposit their registers with the General Register Office. Many of these registers are now held at The National Archives in Kew and digital copies can be consulted online via the BMD Registers website and Ancestry. Copies of these pre-1837 records for Somerset and Bath are available on microfilm at the Somerset Heritage Centre (ref. T/PH/pro/61a-70j).

Roman Catholic records

Somerset comes under the Catholic Diocese of Clifton which holds the archives of the Western Vicarate. These include parish records from 1850 and Episcopal correspondence from about 1780 onwards. Contact details for their Archives service can be found on the Clifton Diocese website.

The Somerset Heritage Centre holds very few Roman Catholic records (ref. D/RC/*). Access to the registers that we do hold is restricted to those that are over 110 years old. Papists’ estates were registered at Quarter Sessions from 1716, and we hold schedules giving details of tenements, field names, occupiers, rents and state and type of tenure for the period 1717 to 1788 (ref. Q/RRP). Registers of Jesuits, 1829 to 1832, were also compiled by Quarter Sessions (ref. Q/RRJ).

Other sources for nonconformity

Quarter Sessions records

• After 1689, dissenting congregations had to register their meeting places. You can find relevant records in the Quarter Sessions records (ref. Q/RRW). After 1736 applications were made directly to the bishop or archdeacon (ref. D/D/rm)
• Quarter Sessions rolls (ref. Q/SR) may include references to registers of oaths of allegiance, lists of dissenting meeting houses, licences, indictments, petitions and recognisances
• Quarter Sessions order books (ref. Q/SO) record case judgements and can contain presentments for non-attendance at Anglican services, indictments for recusancy, registration of meeting houses from 1689, ecclesiastical returns of chapel registration under the terms of the Places of Religious Worship Act (1812), presentments of people holding conventicles contrary to various statutes of the Clarendon Code, and oaths of allegiance
• Other records include sacrament certificates (ref. Q/RRSC), oaths of allegiance (ref. Q/RRO) and returns on places of worship (ref. Q/RRW)

Diocesan records

• Diocesan act books may include lists of Roman Catholic recusants and lists of charges brought at visitation (ref. D/D/ca)
• Replies from churchwardens in the visitation articles may contain references to nonconformists in the parish (ref. D/D/va)
• There are returns of dissenters' meeting houses for the archdeaconries of: Bath, 1830; Taunton, 1792 to 1808, 1809 to 1852; and Wells, 1817, 1830 (ref. T/PH/gr)

Parish records

Acts passed in 1695 and 1700 stated that dissenters' births had to be reported to clergy and an entry made in parish registers (ref. D/P/*). This was largely ignored, but some registers do include comments. The majority of parish registers for Somerset (up to 1914) can be viewed online via Ancestry.

Things to bear in mind when with using nonconformist records

• From 1754 to 1836 all marriages (with the exception of those of Quakers and Jews) had to take place in an Anglican church
• People often travelled a distance to attend church meetings and care is needed when undertaking family history searches
• Nonconformist churches are independent, voluntary bodies; this is reflected in their structure and records. For example, Methodists are organised by circuits covering several Anglican parishes, and entries about the running of a congregation, minutes of meetings and register entries may be in the same volume
• Presentments against nonconformists were mainly made in areas that were most hostile to these denominations, so the extent of nonconformity may not be accurately reflected in the records

A note on access

Access to some records is restricted at the request of the church that created them or in accordance with Data Protection Legislation. Please see the separate leaflet ‘A Guide to Access under Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation’, for further details.

Further reading

• Calamy, Edmund Calamy, (1713, revised 1934), Account of the ministers, lecturers, masters and fellows of colleges, and schoolmasters who were ejected or silenced after the Restoration in 1660, (pages 573 to 624 list people ejected in Somerset, with details of education, beliefs and life), (Q 262.14 MAT).
• Dwell, Edward, (1938), Somerset non-parochial registers (1938), (ref. PAM1579). This lists non-parochial registers housed with the registrar-general.
• Matthews, Arnold Gwynne (1948), Walker revised: being a revision of John Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy during the Grand Rebellion 1642 to 60, (Q 262.22 MAT).
• Mullett, Michael, (1991) Sources for the history of English Nonconformity 1660 to 1830, (S 280.4 MUL).
• Palgrave-Moore, Patrick, (1994), Understanding the History and Records of Nonconformity, (p285/GEN/PAL: held at the West Country Studies Library at Devon Heritage Centre).
• Sheppard, M. and G., (1988), List of Nonconformist places of worship in Somerset in 1887, (ref. PAM735).
• Stell, Christopher, (1991), An inventory of nonconformist chapels and meeting-houses in South West England, (S 726.586 ROY O/S).
• Steel, J.D, (1973), National index of parish registers, Vol. 2: sources for nonconformist genealogy and family history, (Q 929.3 STE).
• Steel, J.D, & Samuel, Edgar R, (1974), National index of parish registers, Vol. 3: sources for Roman Catholic and Jewish genealogy and family history, (1974), (Q 929.3 STE).

Other archives and online resources

• Some Somerset nonconformist records have been deposited with other repositories including Bristol Archives and Bath Record Office. A handlist to those held at Bristol Archives can be found via their online catalogue. Those held at Bath Record Office are listed on our online catalogue
• Dr Williams’s Library in London
• Methodist Church archive at John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
• Methodist Heritage website
• Quakers in Britain website