Looking for your Roman Catholic ancestors? The Catholic Family History Society can point you in the right direction. Society members receive Catholic Ancestor, our journal, three times a year containing members' own researches and a wide range of helpful articles. An Annual Day Conference is held in October. Volunteers around the country transcribe early Catholic Registers, and these are offered free to current members when published. They may also be available at your local Record Office or public libraries. Non-members can also purchase these and all past publications.Please use the menu bar at the top of the page to explore this site.

 You may be new to family history, you may have some experience, you may be an old hand; whatever the case we will welcome you as a member and do our best to help you in this fascinating pastime. Click here to join us..

Members receive a regular magazine, Catholic Ancestor and can then contact the editor to spread their discovered information by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ember Burning:

Catholic Recusancy and the Fermor Family of North Oxfordshire

Given by Tim Guile on 21^st January 2023, 2pm.

Tim gave us a very interesting talk last year on Recusant Women in the sixteenth century. He is well known for his articles in various publications and talks at Conferences and meetings.

This talk is about communities living together despite the anti-Catholic laws. It reveals how some Catholics were either tolerated or else ignored and left alone whilst others were treated worse. Tim will also mention the small Catholic Church at Hethe where the niece of Flora Thompson, who wrote Lark Rise to Candleford, was buried. He has found other interesting connections too.

The picture of the remains of the Fermor house below is from Catholicism in Somerton – SOMERTON (somertonoxon.co.uk)

If you would be interested in joining us online for this talk, then please contact us through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You will in due course be sent a link for Zoom. If you do not have Zoom it is free and easy to download it to your device. Simply search for Zoom on your search engine and follow the instructions. We hope you will want to join us for what promises to be an enlightening talk.