Prestbury, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
PRESTBURY (St. Peter), is a parish, in the union and hundred of Macclesfield, N. division of the county of Chester; comprising the town of Macclesfield. The parish is the largest in the county, consisting of 32 townships, of which nine are in the parochial chapelry of Macclesfield; the others are, Adlington, Birtles, Bollington, Bosley, Butley, Capesthorne, Chelford, Fallybroome, Henbury with Pexhall, Lyme-Handley, Marton, Mottram St. Andrew, Newton, Poynton, Prestbury, North Rode, Siddington, Tytherington, Upton, Lower and Old Withington, Woodford, and Worth. The dissenters have also numerous places of worship.

Prestbury St Peter is an ancient parish and was an extraordinarily large parish with a number of chapelries. The parish church of St Peter, a building largely of the 13th century, was restored in 1879 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. In the churchyard is the church’s Norman predecessor, a chapel largely rebuilt in 1747.



At the time of the Norman Conquest, the parish consisted of thirty-five townships:

Prestbury township was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, perhaps because information was not supplied or because Prestbury was only a church, not a manor.

Twelve of the other townships are mentioned. Butley was valued at 2 Shillings at the time of the Domesday Survey, compared with 30 Shillings at the time of Edward the Confessor. Adlington and Macclesfield were both worth 20 Shillings and Siddington 5 Shillings. The other eight townships were valued "Waste".

The church administered the civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs of the parish until the Local Government Act 1894 created rural districts and civil parishes. Three of the townships, Butley, Fallibroome and Prestbury, constitute the present civil parish of Prestbury.

St Peter's Church, Prestbury before the restoration designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Note the external staircase leading to a gallery at the western end of the church.



Church records
Prestbury St Peter parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

Prestbury, St. Peter (Church of England) is a very large ancient parish, originally serving the townships of: Adlington, Birtles, Bollington (near Macclesfield), Bosley, Butley, Capesthorne, Chelford, Fallibroome, Henbury cum Pexall, Hurdsfield, Kettleshulme, Lower Withington, Lyme Handley, Macclesfield, Macclesfield Forest, Marton (near Congleton), Mottram St. Andrew, Newton (near Prestbury), North Rode, Old Withington, Pott Shrigley, Poynton, Prestbury, Rainow, Siddington, Sutton (near Macclesfield), Tytherington, Upton (near Macclesfield), Wildboarclough, Wincle, Woodford and Worth. The original registers from 1560 are still held at the church, but registers of Baptisms 1560–1990, Marriages 1560–1969 and Burials 1560–1978 can be viewed on microfilm at the Cheshire Record Office in Chester, England. CRO reference no.: CMB/1/1-7, 2/1-4, 3/1-48, 4/1-11, 5/1-7.

Bishop's transcripts of records for Prestbury, Chelford, Adlington, Saltersford-cum-Kettleshulme, 1596-1858, are also on microfilm in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester, England. CRO reference no.: EDB 172.

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.'

Records are also on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, including:

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)


 * Baptist
 * Methodist New Connexion
 * Particular Baptist
 * Primitive Methodist
 * Roman Catholic
 * Wesleyan Methodist
 * Wesleyan Methodist Association

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

Church records for the Bourne Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sutton (near Macclesfield), 1906-1960 Cheshire Record Office call no.: EMS 8/1, 5

Church records for the Brunswick Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Bridge Street, Sutton, 1824-1966 Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EMS 9/1, EMS 9/2/1-8, EMS 9/3.

Church records for the High Street Primitive Methodist Chapel, Bollington, 1901-1950 Cheshire Record Office call no.: EMS 194/2/1-3.

Church records for the Wellington Road Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Bollington, 1841-1923 Cheshire Record Office call no.: EMS 16/1-2.

Church records, 1808-1837 Wesleyan Church Withington Public Record Office no.: RG-4 series no. 553.

Church registers for Grimshaw Lane New Connexion Methodist Chapel, Bollington, 1889-1956 Cheshire Record Office call no.: EMS 193/1.

Church registers, Bollington Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, 1812-1837 London P.R.O. nos.: RG-4 series nos. 711, 2148.

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 Poor Law Union, Cheshire

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. Here are some online maps and gazetteers for England:


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Prestbury on GENUKI