The Late Date of the Registers. 227 



Added to this also the clergyman, having nowhere else 

 to chronicle them, has often entered in his register the pass- 

 ing events of the day ; so that this further possesses, at times, a 

 wider historical interest than could have been expected, giving 

 us often glimpses of the views of men, who, however unsympa- 

 thetic with the changes and fortunes of the hour, still carry, from 

 their office and position, some not inconsiderable weight. 



All these books are far too seldom consulted. The few notes 

 we shall make are by no means given as examples of what may 

 be elsewhere found, but must be looked upon only as extracts 

 from the books of a district, where we naturally could expect 

 little of any general interest. 



The New Forest has never been, since registers became the 

 law of the land, the scene of any of the great events of English 

 history never the theatre of the Civil Wars, as the Midland 

 Counties, where entries of victories and defeats, and battles and 

 sieges, are mixed with the burials and births. 



Various causes, too, especially the scanty and scattered 

 population, have contributed to the late date at which nearly all 

 the Forest registers commence.* Still, at Eling, there occurs 



* The following dates prior to 1700 of the Parish Registers in the 

 Forest district are taken from the Parish Register Abstract: Accounts and 

 Papers: 1833, vol. xxviii (No. 13), p. 398 : 



Eling .... 1537 



Christchurch . 1586 



Milford . . . 1594 

 Boldre . . . .1596 



Ellingham , . . 1596 



Bramshaw (loose leaves) 1598 



Fordingbridge '. . 1642 



Beaulieu . . . 1654 



Ibbesley . . . 1654 



Milton . . .1654 



Lymington . . .1662 



Dibden . . .1665 

 Fawley .... 1673 



Breamore . . .1675 



Sopley . . .1678 



Minestead . . . 1682 



Ringwood . . .1692 



Brockenhurst 1693 



G G 2 



