Tracing your Ludham Ancestors

Tracing your Family Tree in Ludham

INTRODUCTION

Of all the enquiries we get at the Ludham Archive, questions about tracing your ancestors back to Ludham are the most common. We are always glad to help if we can and this is why we have created this section of our website which we hope you will find to be a useful resource. Do let us know if you have any suggestions for things to put on this page.

PARISH RECORDS

The Parish Records are a great place to start. Here you can find records of baptisms, marriages and deaths.

There was a time when the Parish Records lived in a tin chest in the church, but those days are long gone. Now the Ludham Parish Records are at the Public Record Office in Norwich, and that is the place where you must start your search. Until recently, this meant having to travel to Norwich in person, but now, thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, you can search the Parish Records on-line.

To do this go to the FreeReg site and start searching. Please note, this site has nothing to do with the Ludham Archive Group.

GRAVE STONES

Grave stones are a great resource and a source of all sorts of useful information.
In 1980, the Women's Institute (WI) carried out a survey of all the grave stones and monuments in the churchyard at St Catherine's Ludham. A copy of this survey can be found in the church and is there for your reference. St Catherine's is open every day for visitors and a personal visit is surely the best way of doing your research. However, this is a problem because:

It is 30 years since the survey

Not everyone can travel to Ludham. Descendants of Ludham people can be found all over the world.

In order to deal with this, the Ludham Archive Group is currently updating the 1980 survey. This involves photographing every grave and turing the original typewritten documents into computer files. All the indexes and maps are being re-drawn and all the information checked for accuracy. In addition all new graves since 1980 are being added to the list.

This work is still ongoing, but it has now reached a stage where it is possible for us to add some useful information to this site. So we have now added the indexes of all the graves with markers and monuments in the churchyard. Just click here to take a look.
Please remember, this is a list of all the graves with stones, crosses, mounds and other monuments. There are other people buried in the churchyard who have unmarked graves. Not everyone could afford a stone in the past as they were expensive items.

FAMILY SPECIFIC INFORMATION

For some Ludham Families we have more information which may be helpful in your research. Click here to take a look.

CAN WE HELP?

We are happy to help if we can. The local historians sometimes like a challenge. If you have a question, please go to our home page where you will find our e-mail address. You are welcome to send us an e-mail and we will see if the Ludham Archive contains anything of help to you.