Stockport, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
STOCKPORT (St. Mary), a newly-enfranchised borough, a market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Macclesfield, N. division of the county of Chester; comprising the chapelries of Distley, Dukinfield , Hyde , Marple , Norbury , and Romiley , and the townships of Bramhall , Bredbury , Brinnington , Etchells , Offerton , Stockport , Torkington , and Werneth. The town derived its name Stokeport, or Stockport.

St Mary's church was mainly re-built in 1817. St Peter's district church was built in 1768. The church dedicated to St Thomas was erected in 1825. A church district, called St Matthew, was formed in 1844. An Independent chapel was built in 1866, for Baptists, Wesleyans, the New Connexion of Methodists, the Society of Friends, Primitive and Warrenite Methodists, Unitarians, and the Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1862.

The parish is ecclesiastically cut into the sections of Stockport-St. Mary, Stockport-St. Thomas, Stockport-St. Peter, Bredbury, Disley, Dukinfield, Dukinfield-St. Mark, Dukinfield-St. Matthew, Castle-Hall, High-Lane, Hyde, Hyde-St. Thomas, Marple, Norbury, Portwood, Romiley, Werneth, and Moor.

See: Stockport St Alban, Stockport St Augustine, Stockport (Brinksway) St Augustine, Stockport St George, Stockport St Mark, Stockport St Mary, Stockport St Matthew, Stockport St Peter, Stockport St Saviour, Stockport St Thomas, and Stockton Heath.

Church records
Stockport St Mary the Virgin registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

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

Stockport Portwood St Paul registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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.

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

Parish registers of St. Mary's Church, Stockport, 1584-1901 Cheshire Record Office call no.: P14/1/2-11, P14/2/1-8, P14/3435/2/1-4, P14/4616/1, P14/3435/1, P14/3/1-17, P14/3435/3/1-24, P14/4616/2-3, P14/4/1-5, P14/3790/1-2, P14/4649/1-6, P14/5/1-8, P14/3435/4/1-2.

Bishop's transcripts for Stockport, 1605-1844 Microfilm of manuscripts in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester, England.

Records are not in strict chronological order. Some years are missing

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1600s-1910 Cheshire Non-Conformist & Roman Catholic Registers (Baptism) 17th Century-1910 at FindMyPast ($); index and images (dates may vary by parish)

Stockport has numerous churches and chapels. The principal faiths include:

Stockport, Our Lady and the Apostles (Roman Catholic), Edgeley Road. Founded 1799, rebuilt in 1905. Stockport, St. Joseph (Roman Catholic), Tatton Street. Founded 1851, the present church was Built in 1862. Registers of baptisms 1862–1912, marriages 1863–1934 and burials 1862–1905 are at the Cheshire Record Office. Stockport, St. Michael (Roman Catholic). Registers of baptisms 1851–1895, marriages 1856–1882 and burials 1863–1866 are at the Cheshire Record Office. Stockport, St. Ambrose (Roman Catholic), Adswood Road. Founded 1939. Stockport, Friends' Meeting House (Quakers), Lower Hillgate. Built in 1705. Stockport, United Reform Church (Hanover Chapel) (Independent/Congregational). Records of baptisms 1816–1961 are at the Cheshire Record Office.

The following non-Church of England denominations were located somewhere in Stockport, but the exact parish has not been identified:

Baptist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Independent Methodist Independent/Congregational Methodist New Connexion Presbyterian Presbyterian Unitarian Primitive Methodist Roman Catholic Society of Friends/Quaker Wesleyan Methodist.

Non-Conformist Church Records:

Baptisms 1797-1837 at Mount Tabor New Connexion Methodist Church, Stockport, Cheshire, U.K.

Baptisms at Methodist Church, Hazel Grove, Stockport 1794-1879

Wellington Road Congregational Church, Stockport, 1789-1980

High St. Unitarian Stockport, county of Cheshire, U.K.

Registers of Brunswick Wesleyan Chapel, Stockport, County of Cheshire

Church records for High Street Presbyterian Chapel, 1761-1798

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 Stockport Society of Friends preparative meetings, 1694-1910 Cheshire Record Office call nos.: EFC 12/5010/8-9.

Church records, 1709-1837 New Chapel Hillgate Stockport, Independent Church Gate Chapel

Church records, 1812-1837 Caroline Street Chapel Staleybridge, Wesleyan RG-4 series nos. 545, 546, 547.

Church records, 1816-1958 Congregational Church Cheshire Record Office no.: EUC 3151/56/1-2

Church records, 1831-1837 Ebenezer Chapel Stockport Primitive Methodist

Church records, 1840-1908 Society of Friends. Cheshire Monthly Meeting Cheshire Record Office call no.: EFC 12/5010/5-6.

Church records, 1851-1895 Catholic Church. St. Michael's Stockport Cheshire Record Office call no.: ERC 17/5187/1-6.

Church records, 1862-1934 Catholic Church. St. Joseph's Stockport Cheshire Record Office call no.: ERC 16/5186/1-2, 4-10.

Church roll for Hanover Congregational Chapel, Stockport, 1847-1893 Microfilm copy of original records in the Stockport Central Library, Stockport, Cheshire, England.

Hanover Congregational Chapel, Stockport, burials 3 January 1855 to 18 December 1928

Hillgate Tabernacle Independent Stockport, Cheshire, baptisms 28 Nov 1801-6 Nov 1836

Monumental inscriptions for Hanover Hill Congregational Chapel, Stockport, 1800's Microfilm copy of original records in the Stockport Central Library, Cheshire, England.

Monumental inscriptions for Hillgate Unitarian Chapel and Old Mount Tabor Chapel, Stockport, 1750-1850 Microfilm copy of original records in the Stockport Central Library, Cheshire, England.

Monumental inscriptions for Tiviot Dale Methodist Church,Stockport, 1826-1878 Microfilm copy of original records in the Stockport Central Library, Cheshire, England.

New Chapel Independent Church, Stockport, county of Chester burials 1785-1837

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Stockport Branch Record of members, 1839-1913 Microfilm of original records in the Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cross Moor Branch Record of members, 1842-1857 Microfilm of original records in the Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Manchester District Record of members, 1876-1931 Microfilm of original records in the Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

St. Michael Stockport (Roman Catholic church) county of Cheshire, U.K. : burials 1863-1866

Stockport Methodist [burials], Mt. Tabor 1798-1832, Bethesda 1833-47

Stockport, Bethesday Independent Methodist Church : baptisms 1797-1903 &amp; burials 1833-1847

Tabernacle Independent Chapel, Stockport, county of Cheshire, burials 15 Nov 1807 to 27 Dec 1836

Tiviot-Dale Methodist Church Stockport burials 1826-1943

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

 * Stockport

Poor Law Unions

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

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

Websites
Stockport on GENUKI