Parish records were first formally used in the reign of Henry VIII when Thomas Cromwell, the Chief Minister, order that every birth, marriage and burial should be recorded. 

The Reverend Charles Rivington, vicar at Eaton, records in his notes on the History of Eaton that ‘the register begins in 1591 and is very imperfect. In the twenty years that appear tolerably perfect near the beginning, are 126 baptisms, 46 burials and 24 marriages.’  Sadly this register has not survived.

 

The surviving records are held at the Leicester Records Office and begin during John Holdens time as vicar from 1724

 

Eaton                     Christenings  1724 - 1788 and  1813 - 1989

                                 Marriages 1724 - 1763 and 1813 - 1996 (1976)

                                 Burials  1724 - 1788 and 1813 - 1983

 

As part of the Eaton InSpired project we  have a subscription to a genealogy website, FindMy Past, and the intention is to reproduce some of the records here. If you are interested in researching a particular person, family or house  please get in touch 

 

In addition  records from 1837 to 1997 are available free from FreeBMD

 

Burials, for which there is a marker either as a gravestone or a plaque, can be searched on the Find a Grave website. This shows the oldest marked grave as Thomas Blankley buried in 1712 aged 70 and is one of the four Belvoir Angel gravestones in the churchyard.

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