Hi Janet

Strictly speaking, births were not recorded until the introduction of civil registration on 1 July 1837. Prior to that, we have to rely on records of baptisms. Theoretically, Church of England parish registers go back to 1537, but only a relatively small proportion of these survive. Slightly more registers survive after 1598 as a second law was passed then requiring the records to be made on vellum or parchment rather than paper. That law also brought in a requirement for copies of the registers to be sent annually to the bishop or archdeacon and these copies (known as BTs) have often survived where the originals are lost.

The National Archives does not house parish registers or BTs. They are to be found at the relevant county archives. Some of these archive centres have made arrangements for their parish register holdings to be available online, either through a commercial partner such as Ancestry or FMP, via the LDS or directly through their own portal. The LDS have filmed a great many registers over the years and you can hire in these films at your local FHC. Many Family History Societies have produced transcripts of registers and these are often available for purchase on CD. The volunteer project FreeReg (http://freereg2.freereg.org.uk/) is building up a very useful database of register transcripts, though the coverage varies from county to county.

The amount of information to be found in parish registers decreases the further back you go. Until 1812, you are unlikely to get more than the Christian name of the child, the full name of the father and the Christian name of the mother (though some very early registers do not mention mothers). Earlier registers may be in Latin and contain abbreviations. After 1812, pre-printed register books were introduced and you should find the occupation of the father and the family's place of abode recorded after this date.

Hope this helps

Caroline