The parish of Outwell sits on the very western edge of Norfolk, indeed it has at times been part of neighbouring Cambridgeshire. The border of the two counties formerly ran down the river in the centre of the village, nowadays it extends in a large salient of agricultural land to the west. Outwell is still a largely agricultural area where the rich soils yield much of the greengrocer's produce but the risk of flooding, as frequently occurred during the period of this transcript, has receded with modern electrical pumps and sluices.

St Clement's church is made with the rich buttery limestone of the Lincolnshire Wolds, undoubtedly transported to the site by water. The church dates from the 13th century but is much added to over the years. Sited right in the centre of the village St Clement's is still the focal point of the village and dominates within its attractive churchyard.

Two registers cover the period of this transcript, the first is deposited at the Wisbech & Fenland Museum with a copy held at Norfolk Record Office on Microfilm MF544. The quality of this is comparable with that of similar aged NRO films being pasty and with difficult images. This, at least, is better than the second register which unfortunately is not yet deposited. As a consequent this second half has been prepared using the deposited Bishop's Transcripts. As with all these BTs the quality is variable - some are excellent other poor. Also as a result there are two small gaps where no record exists in the public domain -the 1st half of 1860 and the whole of 1875.

These records will, of course, be added to this site if the records should become accessible in the future. To summarise this was a tricky transcript and it is likely that some errors will have been made due to a combination of the state of the images and also the usual problems with incumbent's handwriting. It is to be hoped that these are few and are found quickly.