Search Glamorganshire Marriages and Banns

Banns

Each of the Glamorganshire Banns includes an image of the original Banns book and a transcript of the individual entry. The information in each transcript may vary, but most will include:

• Name
• Bride’s name
• Groom’s name
• Banns date (the first of the three announcements)
• Marriage date
• Bride’s parish
• Groom’s parish
• County and Country

It is very common to find additional detail in the images than what is available in the transcripts. In the Glamorganshire Banns images you may be able to find out who witnessed and performed your ancestor’s wedding.

Marriages

Transcripts

Each record comprises a transcript of the original register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:

• Bride’s first name
• Bride’s last name
• Groom’s first name
• Groom’s last name
• Bride’s age
• Groom’s age
• Banns date
• Marriage date
• Marriage year
• Bride’s father’s name
• Groom’s father’s name
• Bride’s parish
• Groom’s parish
• Parish
• County
• Country

Images

Images from later records and certain parishes may provide additional information about your relative. Further details may include:

• Bride’s marital status
• Groom’s marital status
• Bride’s rank or occupation
• Groom’s rank or occupation
• Bride’s address
• Groom’s address
• Bride’s father’s rank or occupation
• Groom’s father’s rank or occupation

Glamorganshire

Glamorganshire (also called Glamorgan) is one of 13 historic counties in Wales and a former administrative county of Wales. Glamorganshire is represented by the three preserved counties of Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan, and West Glamorgan. It borders Breconshire, Monmouthshire, and Carmarthenshire. The administrative county of Glamorganshire was created under the Local Government Act 1888, excluding Swansea and Cardiff which were made independent county boroughs.

Two years after the Local Government Act 1972, however, the county boroughs and administrative county were abolished, and three new counties were formed: West Glamorgan, Mid Glamorgan, and South Glamorgan. In 1996, these areas were reformed into several unitary authorities. Since 1972, Glamorganshire has boasted two cities: Swansea, and Cardiff, the county town and capital city of Wales since 1955.

Banns

In order to understand these records better, it is important to know what Banns are. Banns are the announcement of a couple’s intention to be married. The purpose of the announcements are to give anyone in the congregation an opportunity to voice objections to the marriage. The Banns must be read out in church on three Sundays in the three months leading up to the wedding day. This is useful for those records which do not include the wedding date. By recording the Banns you now have an educated idea of when your relatives were married.

Marriages

Marriage records are an essential part of researching your family history. There are records where the parents of the bride and groom are listed, and these are often the key to finding out the names of the generation before.

Occasionally, ages of the couple may be listed as "full" rather than as a figure. This was a customary way of noting that they were over the required age of 21. If the bride or groom was under the age of 21, “with consent of parents” is noted in the record.