Riddlesworth with Gasthorpe is now a single parish, but there are 2 churches, St Nicholas Gasthorpe being very much in ruins. It was formerly two separate parishes: Riddlesworth and Gasthorpe(often written Gastrope).
It is a very sparsely populated parish; in 1753 there were 15 people over 16 years old in Riddlesworth and 23 in Gasthorpe. Many years have no baptisms registered, but entries increase markedly after the 1780s.
The registers begin in 1686; the first is poorly kept and there is a big gap in entries from 1750s to 1780s, and other gaps too. These gaps are partly made up by surviving Bishop's and/or the Archdeacon's transcripts, dates of which are noted in the comments section below. These have been checked and noted, if different from the registers. Nil returns in AT/BTs have been noted as these also fill in information. Generals and visitations are indicated - Bishop's or Archdeacon's transcripts ought to be available at least for these years.
Earlier AT/BTs until at least 1783/4 are separate for the two ancient parishes (except in 1743/4 which is a combined AT, although Gasthorpe also had its own return!).
Those for the remainder of the 1780s and the 1790s are probably for the combined parishes (whilst they're headed Riddlesworth some of them have entries for people from Gasthorpe); those from 1800 onwards are almost certainly for the combined parishes.
There is considerable difficulty in determining in which church events took place. Surviving separate BTs/ATs make this clear, but the register is confusing. It seems likely that the register only records events in Riddlesworth up until 1723 when Gasthorpe events are specified as such on separate pages from 1723 to 1741. If Gasthorpe had its own registers prior to this date, then they appear not to have survived. When the register resumes in 1784 it appears to be for the combined parish.
Items in square brackets [ ] are the transcriber's comments/observations; they do not form part of the register.