Greetings Listers I have a couple of mysteries 'way back' resulting from comments made by others researching (some years ago I would think) the same lines as I am. Firstly in relation to the PHILLIPS family: "The earliest entry I extracted from the St Clement's Register at Hastings regarding the PHILLIPS family is that of the Baptism of Agnes Phillips, daughter of a Robert Phillips, which took place on 12th May 1549." I was unaware that records exist for St Clement's (or even All Saints') as early as 1549. Could the researcher have been thinking of Rye which does have early registers? Or is there some other list or early records around somewhere? Secondly, I found this in connection with Robert Frogbroke (FROGBROKEs were also known as PHILLIPS down the track a bit): "It is not known how long Robert and his family lived in Hastings as Robert's burial is the earliest Frogbroke entry in the Parish Registers." By way of explanation, Robert's Will was dated 28th Oct 1558 and proved on 26 Jan 1558(9). I have a list of FROGBROKE burials from SFHG but it doesn't include this one, nor can I find it on the online database. Any ideas, anyone? Many thanks. Cheers Pam Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia

Although it is possible that there can be parish register entries from 1538, most of the clergy did not copy those early entries out of the old paper books and settled for the option of starting the parchment books in 1558. Very few of the paper books have survived and so I am always sceptical about parish register entries pre-1558. However, Rye is one of the exceptions and their registers do indeed date from 1538. According to the National Index of Parish Registers, the registers for Hastings, St. Clement begin in 1558 and the BT's date from 1608. The registers for Hastings, All Saints date from 1559 and the BT's from 1606. Ancestry has the Tyler Index to Kent Parish Registers 1538 to 1874, which includes Rye (possibly because it is a Cinque Port), but this does not contain a baptism for Agnes PHILLIPS in 1549. However, FamilySearch shows a baptism for an Annes PHILIP, daur of John, on 12 Sep 1541 at Rye in Batch No. C14836-1 FHL 1067288. Obviously, the parish register needs to be checked to ascertain the truth of the situation. Best wishes, Marion Woolgar Bognor Regis, West Sussex SFHG Member No: 3323