Hello, I may just have found an ancestor living in Wiltshire at the time of the 1851 census. This was not where I expected to find her, as she was married in 1860 in another county. If anything, I guessed that she might have been born in Ireland! 'My' Juliana Mullins was aged 24 in 1860, when she married in a Catholic Church. Her father was listed as Francis Mullins (deceased). The entry I have found in the 1851 census is in Wardour, Wilts. A 15 year old girl called Juliana Mullins was working as a servant in the Catholic Church there. The age and faith seem to tie in with 'my' Juliana. The girl on the census was born in Tisbury, Wilts. However, there is no record of her birth on the on-line IGI (or BVRI), so I can't easily find out if her father was called Francis. Does anybody have any records for Tisbury, who could do a look-up to see if a Juliana was baptised there? I have no books or fiches for Wiltshire at all, as I did not know of any possible connection with the county until today. Thanks very much, Tina

> >'My' Juliana Mullins was aged 24 in 1860, when she married in a Catholic >Church. Her father was listed as Francis Mullins (deceased). > >The entry I have found in the 1851 census is in Wardour, Wilts. A 15 year >old girl called Juliana Mullins was working as a servant in the Catholic >Church there. The age and faith seem to tie in with 'my' Juliana. Hello Tina The records you will probably need are those for the Catholic Chapel in new Wardour Castle. I have checked the Cof E baps for you and there is no Juliana. Unfortunately the Wardourrecords are not easy to come by. Catholic records are not public records and do not have to be deposited in ROs in the same way as CofE records. Until fairly recently, the Wardour records remained in the hands of the Arundel family and were not available for inspection. Luckily the family have now allowed the Wiltshire Record Office to film them and I beleive there is now a copy in the Society of Genealogists. The LDS have not filmed them and they are not on the IGI or the BVRI. Wilts RO have put most of their parish records onto fiche but the Wardour records are on film only. If you want to go to the Wilts RO to view them, you will need to ring in advance to book the film reader (you do not need to book in advance to use the fiche readers) I don't know where you live but these records are well worth a trip to Wiltshire or London to view. Certainly the 18th century records are more detailled than their Cof E equivalent - in the baptism record you get the childs date of birth as well as baptism, the place where they lived, the Mother's maiden name and the names of the sponsors/Godparents. Although marriages in the Catholic Church were illegal until 1837, there were a number of illegal marriages which have been recorded . You will also find confirmation records. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Wardour Estate was the biggest Catholic community outside of London and many people in the Tisbury area were employed on the estate and used the Chapel for their baps, marriage and burial ceremonies (legal or otherwise). Old Wardour Castle was destroyed in the English Civil War. The ruins are owned by English Heritage and open to the public. The film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves was partially filmed there. You can see the remains of the original chapel and inscriptions carved into the wall by Catholic recusants in the 17 th century. New Wardour Castle is close by. I am not sure what it is used for now - possibly private flats. It has been both a school and a hotel and it was up for sale a few years ago. The Chapel is still there and still in use. You need to contact the Priest for admission however and one of these days I intend to find out who he is and try to visit! Happy hunting Helen >==== WESSEX-PLUS Mailing List ==== >Looking for a modern UK map site - try these......... >http://uk8.multimap.com/map/places.cgi http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ >http://www.ordsvy.gov.uk/getamap/getamap_index.htm Helen Jones, Weymouth, Dorset http://www.melcombe.freeserve.co.uk List Owner ENG-DORSET-LIFE-L & SCAMMELL-L