Search Leicestershire banns

There are over 300,000 banns records covering the ancient county of Leicestershire in this collection. The records span over 300 years from 1637 to the 1940 and cover 281 parishes. Follow the link in the Useful links and resources section to see a full list of parishes covered.

Both images and transcripts are included with each result. While the amount of information may vary from transcript to transcript, most will include the following details:

• First name(s)
• Last name
• Banns year
• Banns date
• Spouse’s first name(s)
• Spouse’s last name
• Spouse’s residence
• Denomination
• Place
• County
• Archive
• Archive reference

Images may be able to provide additional details such as all three dates when the banns were read.

Civil registration was passed in 1837, which means that for vital records, such as those for marriages, parish registers are imperative for gathering essential details for family history research like dates, names, and places. Parish registers date as far back as 1538.

Banns are the publications on three successive Sundays of a couple's intention to marry. The banns registers, however, are also interesting for identifying marriages that took place outside the parish in question (usually in the parish of the bride when different) and, of course, for marriages which, for whatever reason, were planned but never took place. The majority of marriages were preceded by banns; however, a minority were by licence and, of course, such marriages will not appear in these records.

Leicestershire is a county located in the English East Midlands. The county is landlocked and bordered by Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and Rutland counties.