Why are so few Devon parish registers available as transcriptions?
The great majority of extant Devon parish registers are now in the custody of the Devon Record Office and have been microfilmed. However, until recently, in line with a formal agreement that was entered into some years ago by the Diocese of Exeter, Devon County Council, and the County Record Office copies of these microfilms were not, in general, available for purchase, even by other libraries or the LDS. It is now possible to purchase microfiche copies for private study and research – see the Information Note provided to GENUKI by the Devon Record Office, at http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ParishRegisters.html. (This states, inter alia: “Requests for copies for purposes other than private study and research (publication, for example) will also be referred to the parish for permission before copies are supplied. If in doubt as to what constitutes publication or when permission is required, please consult the Devon Record Office for advice.”) Following this recent change in policy, a gro
