Tips for getting the most from England Jurisdictions 1851

Do you have ancestors from England or help someone who does? Have you been using the great new mapping tool recently released by the church? Please note that this tool is for England only – no Wales, no Scotland and no Ireland. This project is the result of a great deal of work by many people. As far as I know there are no plans to do a similar project for other countries.
England Jurisdictions 1851 can be found at http://maps.familysearch.org/ – just type maps.familysearch/org in the address bar or got to labs.familysearch.org and click on the link.
This project set out to map and show information on jurisdictions in England as they were in 1851. You can search for and find places using a variety of types of jurisdictions: parishes, rural deaneries, dioceses, hundreds, poor law unions, counties, and civil registration districts.
Research in England is helped when we know the name of the parish. How does England Jurisdictions 1851 help us?
The first things to do after entering the web site is to type in the name of a place? Is it a parish or a place within a parish? Searching for Brampton Bierlow will show that it was in the parish of Wath upon Dearne in 1851. Always remember the results are answers for 1851 – and may change for later dates.
Clicking on either the parish in the list on the left or on a pin on the map will open an Information Bubble with three tabs: Info, Jurisdictions and Options
“Info Tab
The Info tab will be activated automatically when you click on a pin or within the boundaries of a place.
This tab will provide the following information:
• What ecclesiastical status it has (Ancient Parish, Ecclesiastical Parish, Chapelry, Extra Parochial)
• When and from what other place it was created
• If it was a chapelry and which was the mother church
• The names of other places in a parish (hamlets, villages, wards, divisions, etc.)
• The year Parish Registers and Bishops’ Transcripts begin and other notes concerning records and where to search.
Jurisdictions Tab
Click the Jurisdictions tab to see the names of the jurisdictions that relate to that place. Included jurisdictions are: Parish, County, Civil Registration District, Probate Court, Diocese, Rural Deanery, Poor Law Union, Hundred and Province. By clicking on a hyperlinked jurisdiction name, you will be shown a highlighted view of the boundaries of that particular jurisdiction.
Options Tab
Click the Options tab to find the following features: List contiguous parishes, radius search, search the Family History Library Catalog, search the FamilySearch Research Wiki, remove a highlighted selection and the Information bubble.”
(from the Help file for England Jurisdictions accessed through the ? in the top right hand corner).
Selecting Continguous Parishes will add a List Tab to the left of the screen and show a list of adjoining parishes which can be printed. Radius search allows for user selection of the radius to be searched and show the results as a printable list.
In the top centre of the screen is a drop down list after the words “Click Map to Select.” Use the drop down list to choose a Parish, County, Civil Registration District, Diocese, Rural Deanery, Poor Law Union, Hundred, or Province. Then click on the map to highlight the jurisdiction and activate the information bubble. The information bubble will list options for searching in the jurisdiction.
The Help file accessed through the ? in the top right hand corner of the screen provides more tips.
This is a great tool. Use it and teach it any time you are doing research in England.

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