>From David Hey's 'The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History': << In 1538 Thomas Cromwell ordered each 'parish in England and Wales to keep a register of baptisms, marriages, and burials. At first the normal practice was to record such events on loose sheets, many of which have been lost or destroyed. In 1597 it was ordered that from the coming year each parish should keep a bound register and that older records should be entered into that register, the accuracy of the transcript being attested at the foot of each page by the minister and two churchwardens. Only a minority of parishes have records as far back as 1538; many parishes began their copies in 1558, the year that Elizabeth l came to the throne. The same Act of 1597 also ordered that in future a copy of all the events registered during the past year should be sent to the bishop's office. These bishop's transcripts are now kept at diocesan record offices. They sometimes cover gaps left by the destruction of original registers, but in general their survival rate is not as good. >> [My edition of this invaluable book was published in 1996 so the penultimate sentence is now outdated. However, the book remains my 'bible' and I highly recommend it. ] A further book recommendation is the classic W E Tate's 'The Parish Chest' first published in 1946 which has the following: << The parish was to provide a 'sure coffer with two locks, the parson having the custody of one key, the wardens that of the other.' The entries were to be made each Sunday after service, in the presence of one of the wardens. The mandate was enforced under a penalty of 3s.4d. for the repair of the church. These entries were generally made upon paper, sometimes upon loose sheets, and sixty years later these registers were ordered to be copied upon parchment in books, so that the registers which still survive dating back to 1538-9 - perhaps about 1400 or 1500 in number - rarely contain original entries of this date. This may be seen in the fact that the entries 1538-1598, when there are any, are almost invariably throughout in the hands of the incumbents of 1598 or, in some populous parishes, of the professional scriveners who transcribed data from the old paper registers. Sometimes the earliest paper registers had disappeared even before the transcription was ordered in 1598, e.g. at Kirton in Lindsey, Lincs. - according to a note in the earliest extant register, the register is missing since one 'Vicare was maryed and deprived and ye next incumbent kep one that non can fynd'. >> For a detailed explanation of the 'Dade' registers see here: http://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/LPS73/Article_3_Bellingham_pp51 -60.pdf Hope this helps. Ruth