In so far as concerns baptisms, the book does begin in 1560; the first recorded christening was in April of that year. Marriages, in the nature of things, occur less frequently than births or deaths and that may explain why the Marriage register is headed:
      ‘The marriages that were Solemnised Ashe beginning at the yere of o^r Lord 1562’.

   The heading of the Burial register, odd one out on any basis, reads:
      ‘The Burialls in Ashe from the first yere of queen Maryes Reign anno Dni 1553’.

   Whether Thomas Maxfield's purpose was to copy all the early entries of which record remained or whether, for some reason, he chose to be selective, will never now

be known. Ash is not amongst the very few parishes in which any of the old paper registers have survived.
   The first parchment register book remained in use until 1737, when a new book was opened. Some later entries from the old book were copied into the new volume, which, save for marriages, spans the period from 1736 to 1809. It was not used for marriages after 1753 because, in that year, Lord Hardwicke's Act ‘for the better Preventing of Clandestine Marriages’ ordained a special form of marriage register for use thenceforth. Ash’s Hardwicke register covers marriages from 1753 until 1812; it became obsolete in the latter year, but was made use of to record Banns of Marriage until 1821. The effective life of the fourth and last of the ancient register books was brief indeed; it contains entries