Tarrant Monkton cum Launceston

Baptisms 1567 to 1812

Transcribed from the Parish Registers and donated to the Dorset OPC Project by Kim Parker
DHC Ref: PE-TTM

Arranged according to the Gregorian Calendar, with the Julian year indicated to the left of the forward slash (/) in those years when the Julian Calendar, which ran from March 25th to March 24th, was in use (i.e. prior to 1752, 1751 being the transition year).

Transcriber's note: the entries from 1567 to 1636 are from a transcript compiled by the then Rector, Henry Martin. He notes that in 1594 the new vicar, Roland Clifford, kept the register in English but that he, Henry Martin, decided to translate it into Latin to be consistent with the earlier entries. His penmanship is beautiful. Unfortunately, this transcript appears to have caught fire at some point. There are several gaps and the surviving pages are damaged (and therefore difficult to read) in places.

Historical research suggests our ancestors used the Engish version of their names in their daily lives, with the Latin form of their given names appearing only in documents. Since most of our ancestors were illiterate, they were likely unaware of the alternative version of their name. I have therefore translated the forenames from Latin into English. Translation of christian names into English is problematical in some instances. For example, 'Jacobi' was the Latin version of James, but was also occasionally used in its own right for Jacob, while 'Elena' could mean Eleanor or Helen. Sometimes clerks used dog Latin and their ad-hoc latinisation of English names provides a clue. Where there are no such clues and a name could be translated in a variety of ways, I have chosen the most common alternative. [In the 19th Century, certain Latin names (e.g. Maria for Mary and Matilda for Maud) became names in their own right. I have translated these names to the English equivalents that would have been used at the time.]

[L] is used to indicate where an entry has been translated from Latin.

Translation involves choices, and the Parish Register is in any case difficult to read in places, so readers are invited to use this transcript as a guide only and to consult the original at the Dorset History Centre.