Find your ancestors in Caernarvonshire Banns

Discover your Welsh relatives whose banns were read in Caernarvonshire between 1752 and 1926. The records may reveal your ancestors names, marital status, and when and where they got married. You may even be able to find out if the marriage didn’t go ahead.

Each record comprises a transcript and black and white image of the original register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:

  • First name(s)
  • Last name(s)
  • Spouse’s first name(s)
  • Spouse’s last name(s)
  • Banns year
  • Banns date
  • Parish
  • Spouse’s parish
  • Marriage year
  • Marriage place
  • County
  • Country

Image

The image may contain additional details, including:

  • Marital status
  • Spouse’s marital status
  • Dates of three banns
  • Officiating minister

    • Discover more about these records

    The record set comprises 7,885 records from 20 parishes in Caernarvonshire, Wales. These records date from 1752 to 1926.

    Caernarvonshire

    While researching your family history it is essential to remember that county and town borders can change. In 1972, local governments in Wales were reorganised by the Local Government (Wales) Act. Under this act, the administrative county of Caernarvonshire was abolished two years later. The administrative entity of Caernarvonshire was briefly revived in 1996, when the unitary area of Caernarvonshire and Merionethshire was formed. It was quickly renamed Gwynedd, however. Since then, Caernarvonshire has been split between the unitary authorities of Gwynedd to the west and Conwy to the east.

    Today, Caernarvonshire is one of 13 historic counties in Wales. Also spelled Caernarfonshire, it’s bordered by Denbighshire, Merionethshire, and Anglesey. Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, is located in Caernarvonshire.

    Banns

    An ancient legal tradition, banns are an announcement in church of a couple’s intention to marry. The reading of the banns provides an opportunity for anybody to put forward a reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. Banns must be read in the parish (or parishes) in which the couple lives and in the parish they will marry, on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding, unless the couple got a licence. It’s important to note that banns only state an intention to marry; the posting of the banns doesn’t necessarily mean the marriage took place.