Barthomley, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Barthomley



Part of this parish is in Staffordshire, see also Barthomley, Staffordshire.

Parish History
St Bertoline's Church, Barthomley is in the village of Barthomley, Cheshire and is an Ancient parish, which is partly in Cheshire and partly in Staffordshire. The church is a Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton. The church stands in an elevated position on Barrow Hill, which was an ancient burial ground. It was the scene of a massacre in the Civil War. Richards considers it to be one of the most beautiful churches in the county and believes it is the only one in England to be dedicated to St Bertoline. The nave and tower date from the late 15th century and the Crewe chapel from about 1528. There was a restoration of the church between 1852 and 1854. The chancel, designed by Austin and Paley, was built in 1925–26 by the Marquess of Crewe as a memorial to family members. On Christmas Eve 1643, during the civil war, the church was the scene of a massacre. About 20 Parliamentary supporters had taken refuge in the church when Royalist forces under the command of Lord Byron started a fire. The Parliamentarians surrendered but 12 of them were then murdered.

Barthomley was an ancient parish within Cheshire. It contained five townships: Alsager, Balterley, Barthomley itself, Crewe, and Haslington. Of these, Balterley township and (now) civil parish was and is entirely in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire, and Crewe was later renamed Crewe Green to avoid confusion with the neighbouring unparished borough and railway town. All five townships were made separate civil parishes in 1866.

The Cheshire part of the ancient parish lay within Nantwich Hundred, Nantwich Poor Law Union, and Nantwich Rural Sanitary District, whilst the Staffordshire part lay in North Pirehill hundred, Newcastle under Lyme Poor Law Union and Rural Sanitary District. Later on, the modern civil parish (now entirely in Cheshire) was part of Nantwich Rural District.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Registration Districts

 * Nantwich (1837–1937)
 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton &amp; Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire Central (post1998) The post 2009 reorganisation of civil registration can be found online at Cheshire BMD

Church Records
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.

Barthomley, St. Bertoline Cheshire Record reference: P284/5063/1-13, 15.

Bishop's transcripts for Barthomley, 1599-1864 Cheshire Record Office, Chester, England. Early text in Latin. Cheshire Record Office reference: EDB 21. Bishop's Transcripts are online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

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)

Poor-Law Unions

 * Nantwich Poor Law Union

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