Place:West Tofts, Norfolk, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

West Tofts was an ancient parish and a civil parish until 1935 when it was absorbed into Lynford, the neighbouring parish to the west. Prior to that it had been part of Thetford Rural District (1894-1935). Today the area is part of the Breckland District of Norfolk, England.

During World War II West Tofts was part of an area acquired by the British Army as a training area. It remains in their hands to the present. See the Stanford Training Area article in Wikipedia.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for West Tofts. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• 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.
• Ordnance Survey Map of Norfolk revised 1944 and, for comparison, another map of Norfolk dated 1917.