Hi

I'm looking for help in how to go about tracing my family before the initial 1841 Census. For example, I have a relation who was apparently born in a local town in 1811. If I want to find out who his parents were and back further do I need to visit every church in the town and hope to strike lucky with a christening record? Or is there a more efficient and generally accepted method to trace such people and their ancestors?

Sorry if it's a daft question but this is fairly new to me.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks