Numerous records have survived – but due to the sheer number of people recorded, unless you have very positive evidence that a birth or marriage took place in Camberwell, the chance of finding the information you require is remote.

However, hopefully the information and advice below will be useful.

Please contact the organisations below rather than church as we no longer keep records on site prior to 1961.

Church Records
Our church records prior to 1961 are deposited at the London Metropolitan Archives a service administered by the City of London Corporation. The archives are located at 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB. Check the website for more information.

Churchyard
The churchyard has not been used for burials since 1856 and was made into a park in 1939. There are some headstones – very worn – displayed along the perimeter of the park. There is no known complete record of burials, tombstones or those buried in the crypt. However some monuments which existed in the former church (destroyed by fire 1841) and churchyard are described in Allport’s book below.

National Archives
After the 30th June 1837 the national register of Births, Marriages and Deaths began. These are held at the National Archives Centre at Kew. They are indexed quarterly so you need to know the quarter the event took place in. If you find the entry, you can then request a copy certificate.

The advantage of researching Birth Certificates rather than baptism registers is that certificates give mothers’ maiden names where as baptism registers do not. Traditionally marriages took place in the bride’s home church so a search of parish records where the couple subsequently lived may not be fruitful.

The National Archive site allows you to search the census records 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 1891, 1901 and Births Marriages and Deaths from 1837.

Southwark Local History Library and Archives
Some archives and and accounts were found in a long-locked cupboard in the vestry in 1977. They are all badly affected by long storage in damp conditions but are still readable. The Southwark Local History Library at 211 Borough High Street London SE1 1JA. The Deposit Reference is A113.

More about the documents at the archive can be downloaded here.

Click here to find out more about the Southwark Local History Library and Archives.

London Metropolitan Archives – St Giles’ Catalogue
The London Metropolitan Archives is looked after by the City of London Corporation. They hold records for St Giles’ dating back to at least 1558.

To download a full list of records held by the archive, please click here.

For more information about the London Metropolitan Archives, please click here.

Useful BooksThe Environs of London: Volume 1, County of Surrey. Originally published by T Cadell and W Davies, London, 1792. Pages 68-121. Available online here.

Collections, illustrative of the geology, history, antiquities, and associations, of Camberwell, and the neighbourhood by Douglas Allport. Originally published by the author, 1841. All – mentions many of the burial plaques contained in the original church. Available online here.

Ye Parish of Camerwell – A brief account of the Parish of Camberwell and its History and Antiquities by William Harnett Blanch. Published 1875. Text only version available online here.

Old and New London: Volume 6. Originally published by Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1878. Pages 269-286. Available online here.

Useful OrganisationsSociety of Genealogists, Ancestry.co.uk, Camberwell Society.