Parish Records
Parish Records can be a real trial. Many of the existing records have numerous gaps that can span over years and finding the ones your specifically looking for can be frustrating. Their are a great many records sets available on-line many of which you have to pay for. But , before you pay for credits and subscriptions search to see if the county your looking for has an OPC (On-Line Parish Clerk). For example if you are searching for parish records from Shipton Gorge, this parish is located in dorset so you would try a search for Dorset On-Line Parish Clerk or Dorset OPR.
Many Counties now have an online parish clerk and you can view a list of the parish registers they have on line and view the transcripts immediatley and usually for free. I have included some links below.
If your really stuggling then you may wish to consider viewing user submitted trees from some of the larger genealogy sites. Search in the user submitted trees for matches of people that you are already know about so you can be sure this users tree is relevant to you and then view the ancestor pedigree someone else may traced that particular line back further and already documented the person you are looking for and their data will point you in the right direction of where to look. Do be sure to verify any user submitted content for yourself as there is no guarantee that there own research is accurate. The FamilySearch.org website has a massive collection of user submitted trees which you can view for free. (You will also uncover descendant lines you never knew existed).
If you have really got to the end of your tether and you cannot find the records your looking for on-line for free you may have to consider paying to view them on websites that offer access to records for a subscription or pay as you go credit scheme. Pay as you go credits are only worth buying if you are fairy sure you know exactly what records you need to view. If your just taking pot luck you will burn through your credits in no time yielding very few results.
The best option is to work out when you have an optimum amount of time to spend on your research then take a months subscription to one of the larger websites like Ancestry.Com/Co.Uk or The Genealogist. Its much cheaper than an annual subscripton and a month is long enough to find out if that site has the records you are looking for or broad enough database for it to be worth your while painstakingly sifting through the collections they do have. Don't forget to cancel your subscripton at the end of the month so you don't end up paying more than you have to.
