Research Your Family & Fareham’s History
St Peter & St Paul has stood at the heart of Fareham for centuries. Thousands of people have been baptised, married, buried or remembered here, and many families still have connections with the church and churchyard.
If you are researching an ancestor, a family connected with Fareham, or one of the people remembered inside the church, these resources may help you continue your search.
Explore the church
Start with the history preserved here at St Peter & St Paul.
Historic Memorials Gallery
Explore photographs of memorial tablets, monuments, plaques, stained glass and other historic features inside the church.
Explore the Historic Memorials
Stories from the Church
Read the stories behind some of the sailors, soldiers, clergy, benefactors, local families and other people connected with St Peter & St Paul.
Parish History Timeline
Explore people and events from different periods in the history of the church and Fareham.
Find a burial in Fareham
Fareham Borough Council has an online burial search for the nine cemeteries it manages. This is particularly useful for burials after the historic churchyards had closed.
St Peter & St Paul’s churchyard closed for general burials in 1898. Portsmouth History Centre holds St Peter & St Paul burial registers covering 1558–1992.
Search St Peter & St Paul Parish Registers
Portsmouth History Centre
This is one of the most important places for researching families connected with St Peter & St Paul.
The History Centre holds the parish records of St Peter & St Paul under reference CHU43, including:
Baptisms: 1558–1949
Marriages: 1559–1988
Banns: 1858–1987
Burials: 1558–1992
Its collections also include churchwardens’ accounts, vestry records, church plans, photographs and other parish material.
Many older parish registers have been digitised and can also be searched through Findmypast.
Explore Portsmouth History Centre
Births, marriages and deaths
Civil registration began in England and Wales in 1837.
The General Register Office holds the national records of births, marriages and deaths from that date and allows researchers to search indexes and order certificates.
For people who lived before 1837, parish baptism, marriage and burial registers are particularly important.
Search the General Register Office
Newspapers
Old newspapers can reveal details that rarely appear in official records: obituaries, accidents, court cases, marriages, funerals, businesses, property sales and reports of local events.
British Newspaper Archive contains millions of digitised British newspaper pages and can be particularly useful when researching nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Fareham families.
Search the British Newspaper Archive
Royal Navy, Army and military records
Many of the people remembered at St Peter & St Paul served in the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy or other branches of military service.
The National Archives provides detailed research guides explaining how to trace Royal Navy officers and ratings, soldiers, merchant seamen, medals, ships, campaigns and military service.
Explore Military and Naval Records
For those who died during the First or Second World Wars, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database can provide service details, dates of death, units and places of burial or commemoration.
Search Commonwealth War Graves
Wills and probate
Wills can reveal family relationships, occupations, property, servants, charitable gifts and the names of friends and relatives.
The government’s probate search allows researchers to search wills and probate records for England and Wales.
Found a connection with St Peter & St Paul?
Research continues to uncover new stories about the people connected with this church.
If you are descended from someone commemorated at St Peter & St Paul, have photographs or family documents relating to the church, or have discovered information that could add to the history recorded here, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Every name on a memorial, gravestone or parish register belonged to a real person. Following those names into the archives can open a much larger story of Fareham, Britain and the wider world.