Norfolk, England, Parish Registers on line.
Good Morning. This is more like feedback, but is almost a question. I do NOT require an answer, as I have found a way to access. Others who do not have a paid sub to Find My Past will benefit if I am correct. Please move if required.
I am thinking there may be an accidental error in that one Parish (at least) no longer appears in the list of Norfolk Parishes (England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997). I understand this may be deliberate, in which case I apologise for wasting your time. My reasons for thinking this may be an accidental omission are outlined below
The resource in Family Search - https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1416598
(1) I believe that Great Ryburgh was one of the Parishes within the above in 2011. This is when I accessed the pages, and downloaded a few. I recently had a need to revisit my Great Ryburgh research. Great Ryburgh no longer appears in the list.
(2) Your wiki says the PR transcription and original film are available on Family Search on line.
(3) I have a subscription to Find My Past. By leaving the name fields blank, and making the place exact, I can get access to an LDS Film of the PR - https://search.findmypast.com.au/record?id=GBPRS%2FNORFOLK%2FPD_621-2%2F00493&parentid=GBPRS%2FNORFOLK%2FPD_621-2%2F00493
Thanks for taking the time to read,
Best Answers
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@shirleyelrick Checking the FamilySearch catalog for the Great Ryburgh parish registers, I see that their status is denoted with a film reel icon. That icon formerly meant not yet digitized. Now that all microfilms have been digitized, the film reel icon means "not available online."
Some of the contracts for English records have changed in recent few months. That is, some records that were available online are no longer available online. You'll find a few threads here in the Community discussing that occurrence.
Also - the FamilySearch catalog is undergoing a major revamp and has been locked for close to 2 years. That means that what we see in the catalog may not be up-to-date.
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I noticed this problem two or three years ago. It also shows up when I try to use the links attached to my relatives' pages, to which I attached the affected sources many years ago.
It does seem strange that only certain parish records have disappeared, but apparently permission for FamilySearch to publish these records extends right down to a record custodian, who could even be the vicar of the parish in question. Another reason could relate to an agreement (say with Find My Past or Norfolk County Council), whereby only limited access to the full set of Norfolk parish registers is allowed.
Of course, you are right in this possibly being accidental. I remember some Norfolk records disappeared (again a few years back) then reappeared on the FamilySearch website after a few months absence. Even a renegotiation of contracts can cause this type of issue.
The problem is, once the material has disappeared it can be very difficult to get anyone to investigate the reason why - then, possibly, to get it back on the website.
By the way, I could not get your findmypast link to work - then realised it is for the Australian version, which might have different access / viewing rights to that of the UK or US.
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Answers
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Paul - thank you for your reply. In refer to the Find My Past link. You are correct it is for the AU version of the web site. As far as I understand it, the subscriptions are the same no matter where you subscribe from. I used to be able to log on using the 'au' URL, and the .com (UK) URL, but that seems to no longer be the case. At least it has failed the last couple of times I tried. It was handy if the au servers were down.
Maybe if you tried the same link deleting the .au it would work?
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Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I do not have a FMP subscription at present, so am just taken to the Home page. As I am signed-up to use the website, I find I can often access images for certain parishes (for free), but I tried the various links for Great Ryburgh material and they all appear to be behind a paywall.
Not the same as having access to the images, of course, but I have just found FreeREG has indexed records for the parish covering the 1624-1955 period. (See Search Results | FreeREG fof my search on SMITH of Great Ryburgh.)
As you probably know, FamilySearch still provides images of the Great Ryburgh Archdeacon's Transcriptions (at England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812; https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939X-DY9Z-NJ?cc=1824688&wc=M62R-9M3%3A160239801%2C160614101%2C160244602%2C160239804), but there are many gaps and the set ends at 1812, of course. For many of the missing years (relating to Norfolk parishes) I also check-out the Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts collection.
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