Aylsham is a major market town in north-eastern Norfolk. Situated where the main road north from Norwich to Cromer crosses the Bure valley, Aylsham has always been a major centre for the sale of goods and transfer of labour within the area.

The church of St Michael sits in a large area of unspoilt churchyard slightly offset from the busy market square, almost an enclave within the town. St Michael is a large church as befits the importance of the town. Largely from the 13th Century and dominated by its tower St Michael is a church fitting to its surroundings,

Three standard 1600 entry register books cover the period of this transcript, the third extending beyond till completion in mid-20th century. These records are filmed on Microfiche 10 - 16 in the collection of the Norfolk Record Office. These records are also available to freely view as images on the LDS web site Familysearch and given the superior quality of these images they were used to prepare this transcript. The quality of clerical work varies significantly across this long transcript and at times it was rather tricky to read even with the improved images making a likelihood that misreads may have occurred.