Parishes were required to start keeping registers in 1538, under the directive of Thomas Cromwell. Between this date and 1813, when the registers were standardised, there are often interesting snippets included in the records. Clergymen added notes, observations and sketches on all manner of things relating to the parish - including environmental records. 

A recent study has investigated and analysed the content of the parish registers of the southern province (the part of England under the purview of the Archbishop of Canterbury) and found many weather entries, contributing to our understanding of large scale weather events that affected many countries. More generally, they can also show us mortality rates from environmental incidents - on a European scale, the impact of the 1783 eruption of the Laki fissure in Iceland on deaths and weather systems, and locally on the effects of poor water quality in the cholera outbreaks in York in 1832.

The image to the left is taken from a parish register for Drax and it includes mentions of flooding, snow and storms, as well as tree planting, hedge-laying and the presence of butterflies and bees.  Parish records have been used by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to evidence the historical precedents for hedgerows and quickwood in Fishlake parish.