I would like to know whether Robert Goulston son of Edward Goulston was baptised 11 Aug 1643 or 11 Aug 1644. The entry is the very last one on the first page, I cant make out where 1643 ends and 1644 starts, unfortunately Ancestry's Essex Parish Register Index has two entries, one for Robert Golston 11 Jan 1643 Panfield and the other for Robert Goulston 11 Aug 1644 Panfield, both show the father as Edward. The name is Robert Goulston and the day and month looks like 11 August to me but the year escapes me. Thanks.
I would say it's 1644. There is a line dividing each year. If you look at the last entry in 1642, covering two lines, I think the year 1643 is on the far left of the last line, though you can't see the 1, just 643. It looks as though whoever was writing the entries forgot to write the year, so squeezed it in above the line.
Not sure I would agree. 11 August it is but I can't see any year after 1643 until the next page. 1644 does seem to be missing but if you look at the dates after 1643 they progress to August in normal fashion ... there is no break and insertion of January, February etc. as there ought to be if it had rolled over to 1644.
I must admit that's how it looked to me but then I thought surely there must have been baptisms in 1644! It's a pity the ink wasn't darker in places or longer lasting, not sure whether that would help though. I've been over the blown up version of that entry several times and it still leaves me scratching my head.
