Register of baptisms, marriages and burials Arrangement of contents Baptisms Jul 1662-Mar 169[7] - There are no dates entered against the entries in Aug 1669 - There is just one entry for 24 Feb 1669 [1670], but otherwise there is a gap between August/September 1669 and February 1671 [1672], suggesting that the draft entries were lost before they could be entered into the register. - At the bottom of the page ending Oct 1692 is a note reading 'The rest of the Christenings for this year and forward are written ub the latter end of this Booke' and right hand folio is blank. In fact, due to the way the book has been bound, the entries continue on the following page. Burials Jul 1662-Mar 1697 Marriages Aug 1662-Jan [1697] At back: Including notes of sums collected for church briefs 1674-1678 (see transcript below) and notice repurchase of book by church warden 1666 for 15 shillings The majority of at least the earlier entries appear to have been entered into the register together rather than having been entered at the time of the event, or shortly after, not least because it contains entries dating to four years before the book was purchased (see below). It was not necessarily unusual for ceremonies to be recorded in draft form and entered into the formal register at a later date. The heading styles for the baptisms and burials are slightly different for the same months, but are by the same hand. The ink for baptisms March-May 1669 matches that for burials Sep-Nov 1668 (and possibly earlier), the ink for burials Dec 1668-Sep 1670 matches the baptisms of Aug 1669, but the ink for each section from Feb 167[2] do not appear to be quite the same. For marriages, it possible that the entries for Apr 1668-9 Apr 1671 were entered at the same time. There are various marginal notes, including references to 'exhibition' of the entries during episcopal visitations. The meanings of many of the abbreviated notes are unclear. Next to the headings for 1666 under Baptisms and Burials has been written 'wonderfull', perhaps a reference to John Dryden's poem 'Annus Mirabilis' of 1667, an early reference to 1666 as the 'Year of Miracles'/'Marvellous Year'. Jul 1662-Mar 1697