Where can I get Balcombe parish records?

[hipposx3]

My mother is a Peters and I can track them back to the 1700's in Balcombe, Sussex. I can find a fair few pieces on IGI but equally I've been warned not to rely too heavily on this as a source.

I've googled for PDFs/ CDs of parish records for Balcombe with no luck, unlike the success I've had with St Clement in Truro. Can anyone point me to somewhere I can get decent, ideally comprehensive records of baptisms and marriages pre-1760? I'd like ideally to go back pre-1650 so I can verify or eliminate my IGI leads and even go back further if possible.

Any advice please?

thanks
Gavin.

[forester]

Hello Gavin,

West Sussex Record Office sell them on fiche.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/05wu/

Download the list from this page. They appear to have a comprehensive collection for Balcombe. But it's not cheap.

Phil

[hipposx3]

Many thanks Phil - this is great

Odd the overlap in dates but great it goes back so far - looks like £17.50 will do the job which isn't a disaster  (unless anyone knows another cheaper option). Only pity is needing a fiche reader so I guess it's off to the library rather than working at home 

regards
Gavin.

[Little Nell]

I don't know exactly what you are after, but some Balcombe baptisms are included in the Sussex OPC baptism database.

http://www.sussex-opc.org/

Nell

[hipposx3]

Thanks for this Nell. I'm after baptisms, deaths and marriages for Peters family in Balcombe pre-1750. The site you've pointed me to does have some Peters' baptisms but all are the ones I got from IGI and all give IGI as the source. I've been warned about IGI before - should I trust it?

Is there a trustworthy and comprehensive source that doesn't require fiche readers?

regards
Gavin.

[Little Nell]

The Balcombe records on the IGI were transcribed as part of the extraction programme i.e. the registers were filmed/copied to fiche and trancribed from there before being indexed and included on the IGI.  The fiche that West Sussex Record Office may sell you are probably from the LDS filming!  Only mistrust the veracity of the transcription!  No idea how (il)legible these particular registers are.

Be more sceptical about member/patron submitted entries, usually with all numerical batch numbers or A followed by a series of numbers.  These have not been subjected to the more rigorous checking that the extraction programme had.

Nell