West Houghton, Lancashire Genealogy

Guide to West Houghton, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: chapelry register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Chapelry History
HOUGHTON, WEST, a chapelry, in the parish of Deane, union of Bolton, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 4 miles west by southwest of Bolton. An episcopal chapel, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, existed in West Houghton in 1662, when it had a roof of thatch; the edifice was rebuilt in 1731, and is now dedicated to St Mary. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and the Society of Friends.

HOUGHTON (WEST), a village, a township, a chapelry, and a sub-district in Deane parish, Bolton district, Lancashire. The chapelry is less extensive than the township, and was constituted in 1860. The church was rebuilt in 1731; and re-rebuilt in 1869-70. There are chapels for Independents, Quakers, and Methodists, and a national school.

The first known chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew, existed in 1577 (believed to have been built in 1509) and a thatched roof, in the midst of the moors, the floor being covered with rushes which the people brought at certain times of the year, and from which custom the ancient rush-bearing festival, and in later years the Wakes, became an annual event. This humble edifice had to be demolished on account of it being “very ruinous and in decay because of its great antiquity.”

A new chapel was built in 1731 and because it was built as a district chapelry, Westhoughton Parish Registers began in 1732. This new chapel, built on an ancient site was consecrated by Bishop Peplo of Chester. By 1860 Westhoughton had taken a step towards parochial autonomy, but it was still to some extent under the jurisdiction of Deane. The Church sadly was gutted by fire in December 1990. Only the tower remained intact, and a new church was consecrated on October 28th 1995. The old building stood from 1869 to 1990.

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Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day.
 * See England Civil Registration for online resources and information.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Chapelry is a church or churches built in a large ecclesiastical parish to help the members attend worship services closer to their homes.

Online Parish Records Table

Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Lancashire ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Lancashire ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * OnLine Parish Clerks - Lancashire - OnLine Parish Clerks project for Lancashire

Non-Conformist Churches (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Poor Law Unions
Bolton, Lancashire Poor Law Union

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Taxation

 * 1622 - 1622 Subsidy of Westhaughton (p. 160)

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.