At Bristol Record Office yesterday, I looked at the 18th century Cold Ashton registers. I had been told that they were ‘illegible’ for that period and discovered that, indeed, they were difficult to read. Half of each page was vertically obliterated so you could either, for instance, read the name of the child being baptised or the bridegroom in a marriage entry or else the parents of the child or the bride’s name but rarely both. However, when I looked at the Bishops Transcripts for the parish for the same period, they were vastly better, quite easy to read and, unlike many for other parishes, an almost complete set. So don’t believe that you cannot find your ancestors in Cold Ashton in the 18th century, try the Bishops Transcripts instead!
Hidden Heritage
Genealogical Researchers
I have used the microfilms of both in Cold Ashton. And I agree the BTs are better. There is also a bit of an overlap with the Parish Registers of nearby Marshfield as the vicar of Holy Trinity Cold Ashton was the vicar at Marshfield. So some events occur in Marshfield but not in the home parish of Cold Ashton. I have found my Brewer ancestors spread all over the place ecause of it, and also interpolated between lines as my ggf was in 1798, as if an afterthought.
The other problem is the lack of a complete set of registers going back to the beginning of registration in the 16thC.
Thank you for your comments about Cold Ashton. So great that people will share online about their experiences researching. I was disheartened to look at the Cold Ashton parish registers to see what terrible shape many of the books are in. So thank you for steering me to the B.T.s!