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The only book of its kind, this indispensable reference tool with its 17,000 entries is designed to facilitate research by giving the names and descriptions of places in England as they existed prior to 1831, giving location, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, population, and the date of the earliest entry in the registers of every ancient parish, thus combining genealogical information hitherto impossible to find in any but the rarest sources.

The information supplied is as follows: (1) a description of each parish, chapelry, hamlet, town, etc., as it was in 1831; (2) the date of commencement of all Church of England parish registers; (3) the name of the county or shire in which the place was situated in 1831; (4) the distance in miles from the next largest place; (5) the population of each place as of 1831; (6) the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of each parish in 1831; and (7) the existence of nonconformist churches or meeting places for Quakers, Baptists, Methodists, etc.

"The information is based on the 1831 edition of Lewis' Topographical Dictionary but has been corrected as a result of the compiler's many years of experience in English genealogical research. Since civil registration of vital statistics began in 1837 and the censuses of 1841 and 1851 were arranged by parishes and their sub-districts, the 1831 descriptions of location are especially helpful--much more so than modern location information would be. This is an important guide...and will help all who are seeking English ancestors."--The Virginia Genealogist (Oct.-Dec. 1987)

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