Macclesfield St Michael, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Cheshire Parishes  Macclesfield

Guide to Macclesfield St Michael, Cheshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
MACCLESFIELD, is a market-town, parochial chapelry, and newly-enfranchised borough, having separate jurisdiction, it is locally in the parish of Prestbury, and hundred of Macclesfield, and the head of a union, in the N. division of the county of Chester. The town is pleasantly situated near the southern extremity of the forest.

The parochial chapelry consists of the nine townships of Hurdsfield, Kettleshulme, Macclesfield, Macclesfield Forest, Pott-Shrigley, Rainow, Sutton, Wildboar-Clough, and Wincle. The parochial chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, and is dependent on the mother church at Prestbury. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, Socinians, and Roman Catholics.

Situated in the ancient Domesday Hundred of Hamestan, the Domesday Book lists Macclesfield as "Maclesfeld", whilst in 1183 it was referred to as "Makeslesfeld". It is thought that Macclesfield got its name from "Michael's field" - referring to St. Michael, as in St. Michael's church.

Church records
Macclesfield St Michael chapelry registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

The ancient parish which included Macclesfield was Prestbury (see history of the parish)

Macclesfield, St Michael's

Macclesfield, St Peter

Macclesfield, Christ Church, Cheshire

Sutton,near Macclesfield,Cheshire

Macclesfield, St Paul, Cheshire

Macclesfield, St John the Evangelist, Cheshire

Chorley parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Here is a list of parish registers on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Parish registers for St. Michael's Church, Macclesfield, 1572-1960 Cheshire Record Office call no.: P85/1/1-11, P85/2/1-13, P85/3/1-7, P85/4/1-11, P85/5/1-4, P85/7/1-2, P85/6/1, P85/8/1, 3, P85/15, P85/5541/1-8, 13.

Bishop's transcripts for St. Michael's Church, Macclesfield, 1586-1892 Cheshire Record Office no.: EDB 137.

Non-Conformist Churches
Macclesfield, St Alban (Roman Catholic)

Macclesfield, St. Edward the Confessor (Roman Catholic), London Road. Built in 1939.

Macclesfield Primitive Methodist Circuit, Cheshire

Macclesfield Methodist chapel, Church Street West, Cheshire

Macclesfield, Baptist Chapel, Calemine Street, rebuilt in 1873 in St. George Street. Macclesfield, Friends' Meeting House (Quaker), Mill Street.See Macclesfield Society of Friends, Cheshire

Macclesfield, Methodist (Mount Tabor) Chapel, Tabor Street. Built in 1861, closed in 1966. See Macclesfield Mount Tabor Methodist Chapel, Cheshire

Macclesfield Park Green United Methodist Chapel, Cheshire

Macclesfield Park Street Methodist chapel, Cheshire

Macclesfield Stamford Road Methodist Chapel,Cheshire

Macclesfield, Sunderland Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel,Cheshire

Macclesfield Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Cheshire

Macclesfield, Unitarian (Ebenezer) Chapel,Cheshire

Macclesfield United Reformed Church, Cheshire includes Townley Street Chapel, Roe Street Chapel and Park Green Congregational Church

Macclesfield, Unitarian Chapel, Parsonage Street. Built in 1806, closed in 1887. Macclesfield, Spiritualist Free Chapel, Cumberland Street. Built in 1879.

The following non-Church of England denominations were located somewhere in Macclesfield, but the exact parish has not been identified: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


 * General Baptist
 * Independent Methodist
 * Independent/Congregational
 * Methodist New Connexion

Non-Conformist records:

Here is a list of Non-Conformists churches on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Methodist New Connexion Chapel Church records, 1815-1837 RG-4 series no. 184.

St. George's Chapel Baptist Church records, 1801-1868 Cheshire Record Office call no.: EBC 4/5077.

Catholic Church St. Alban's Macclesfield Church records, 1795-1957

Townley Street Chapel Macclesfield Independent Church records, 1785-1891 Cheshire Record Office no.: ECC 5/1/1

Ebenezer Chapel Independent, Macclesfield Church records, 1785-1837 RG-4 series no. 539.

Roe Street Chapel Macclesfield, 1831-1915 RG-4 series no. 540. Cheshire Record Office no.: ECC 5/1/2, 5/2

Church records for the Church Street West Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Macclesfield, 1872-1958 Cheshire Record Office: EMS 1/2/1, EMS 1/12/1-3.

Church records for the Macclesfield Primitive Methodist Circuit, 1823-1945 Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EMC 4/4653/1.

Church records for the Macclesfield Society of Friends preparative meetings, 1859-1889 Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EFC 9/5010/6-7, EFC 10/3.

Church records for the Morley Society of Friends monthly meetings, 1677-1831 Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EFC 1/1-3; EFC 1/10/1-3.

Church records for the Mount Tabor New Connexion Methodist Chapel, Macclesfield, 1891-1953 Cheshire Record Office: EMS 3/1.

Church records for the Park Green United Methodist Free Chapel, Macclesfield, 1856-1939 Cheshire Record Office: EMS 4/1/1, EMS 4/8/1-4.

Church records for the Park Street New Connexion Methodist Chapel, Macclesfield, 1815-1949 Cheshire Record Office: EMS 5/1/1-3, EMS 5/2, EMS 5/9/1-4.

Church records for the Stamford Road Methodist Chapel, Macclesfield, 1939-1951 Cheshire Record Office: EMS 313/3824/1-2.

Church records for the Sunderland Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Macclesfield, 1815-1969 Public Record Office call nos.: RG-4 series nos. 541-542. Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EMS 6/1, 11/18.

Church records for the Trinity Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Cumberland Street, Macclesfield, 1875-1966 Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EMS 7/1-8.

King Edward Street Chapel Macclesfield,Presbyterian Church records, 1713-1919 RG-4 series nos. 3535, 216, 2904.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Macclesfield Branch Record of members, 1840-1869 Microfilm of original records in the LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Burslem Branch (Staffordshire) Record of members, 1858-1869 Microfilm copy of original records in the LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

Dissenters' Burial Ground Register of burials, 1789-1865 Cheshire Records Office no.: ECC/5/3/1

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from 1 July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. Here are two excellent Internet sites with birth, marriage and death indexes available:


 * FreeBMD
 * Cheshire BMD

Registration Districts

 * Macclesfield (1837-1998)
 * Cheshire East (post 1998)

Poor Law Unions

 * Macclesfield

For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and Macclesfield

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

see also England Cheshire Probate Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain