Parish chest

Parish chest, Mathon Church, near to Mathon, Herefordshire, Dated 1698, but understood to be much older.

In England and Wales, a parish chest is a wooden chest which was used for the storage of important documents relating to a parish, these would typically include the parish register of births, deaths and marriages, and other documents relating to the administration of the parish. A parish chest would usually be kept in the parish church.

Parish chests were used from medieval times, and early ones were usually simple, constructed from a hollowed out log. In later centuries, parish chests generally became more elaborate, and incorporated features such metal bands and multiple locks.

Examples

• 
  A 13th-century parish chest, dug-out from one trunk of wood, in St Andrew's Church in the village of Nuthurst, West Sussex, England
• 
  Medieval parish chest on wheels, St Andrew's Church, Rugby
• 
  The parish chest in the tower of the Church of St Peter and St Thomas Becket, in Stambourne, Essex, England

Further reading

• Tate, William Edward (1969), The Parish Chest: a study of the records of parochial administration in England; 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press.
• 1st ed. 1946; 2nd ed. 1951 both Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.