Place:Roydon (near King's Lynn), Norfolk, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Roydon is a small village and civil parish east of King's Lynn in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 4.62 km2 (1.78 sq mi) and had a population of 368 in 144 households at the 2001 UK census. At the 2011 UK census only the population of the electoral ward, a much larger area, was given. The two cannot be compared. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.

It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Reidnua and in 1254 as Ridone.

The village was served by the Grimston Road railway station of the Midland & Great Northern Railway Company (the station was named after the nearby village of Grimston despite being in the centre of Roydon because, at the time of opening, Grimston's population was ten times that of Roydon). The station opened in 1879, and closed to passengers in 1959 (freight traffic continued to pass through the village until this section of the M&GN railway finally closed in 1968).

Roydon today has a large common which is managed as a nature reserve.

The most significant building architecturally is the parish church of All Saints, parts of which date back to the 12th century although it was subject to major renovations by the prolific ecclesiastical architect G E Street in 1857. The church is Grade 2* listed.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Roydon (near King's Lynn). Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• A map illustrating the individual parishes of Freebridge Lynn Hundred may be useful.
• 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.