Place:Walsoken, Norfolk, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Walsoken is a village and a civil parish straddling the border of the English counties of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. The village is 56 miles (90 km) west of Norwich, 13.4 miles (21.6 km) west-southwest of King's Lynn and 103 miles (166 km) north of London. The nearest town is Wisbech which is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east-northeast of the village. The parish of Walsoken in the 2001 UK census, has a population of 1,484 rising slightly to 1,489 at the 2011 UK census. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls partly within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

The village straddles the route of the B198 which was the old A47 renumbered in 1984 with the opening of the Wisbech bypass.

Most of the village now lies in Cambridgeshire but All Saints Church still lies in Norfolk. The village is now a suburb of the fenland town of Wisbech (the two places were amalgamated in 1934) and much of its ancient character and historic core have been lost under modern housing. The parish is south of West Walton, north of Emneth and west of Marshland St. James. The name Walsoken is thought to originate from the Old English meaning "the district under particular jurisdiction by the wall", referring to the villages proximity to a Roman sea wall or defence.

end of Wikipedia contribution

It is noted that Wikipedia states that Walsoken is both in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire and also in the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in Norfolk.

Walsoken Hungate was an additional civil parish within Walsoken. It is redirected here.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Walsoken from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1871-72:

"WALSOKEN, a suburban village, a parish, and a [registration] sub-district, in the [registration] district of Wisbeach and county of Norfolk. The village is suburban to Wisbeach; communicates, by a bridge, with that town and its [railway] station; and has a post-office under Wisbeach.

"The parish comprises 4,656 acres. Real property: £15,033. Population: 2,683. Houses: 665. The property is much subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value: £1,280. Patron: the Rev. J. Davies. The church is Norman, and has a tower with lofty spire. A chapel of ease was built in 1863. There are two Primitive Methodist chapels, a national school, and considerable charities."

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Walsoken. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• A map illustrating the individual parishes of Freebridge Marshland Hundred may be useful. The small areas defined by letters are a group of detached parts of parishes which were reorganized in 1935. They are specified in this Ordnance Survey Map of 1900.
• GENUKI also advises that the following lists for Norfolk are to be found in FamilySearch:

• England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997
• England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812
• England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941
• England, Norfolk Marriage Bonds, 1557-1915
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901

• Ancestry.co.uk has the following lists as of 2018 (UK or worldwide Ancestry membership or library access required). With the exception of the index to wills these files are browsible images of the original documents. The files are separated by type and broken down into time periods (i.e., "Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812" is more than one file). The general explanatory notes are worth reading for those unfamiliar with English parish records.

• Index to wills proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich : and now preserved in the District Probate Registry at Norwich
• Norfolk, England, Bishop's Transcripts, 1579-1935
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1990
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940

• FindMyPast is another pay site with large collection of parish records. As of October 2018 they had 20 types of Norfolk records available to browse including Land Tax Records and Electoral Registers.