Shireshead, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Shireshead St James (formerly St Paul) was an ancient chapel of ease by 1520 lying within the boundaries of Cockerham, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

Other places in the parish include: Claverley.

The chapelry of St Paul was founded in 1520 but closed in 1889 when the parish of St James was created.

"SHIRESHEAD, or Shirehead, a chapelry in Garstang and Cockerham parishes, Lancashire; on the river Wyre, 1¾ mile N by E of Scorton r. station, and 4 N by E of Garstang. Post town, Garstang. Pop., 397. Houses, 95. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £110. Patron, the Vicar of Cockerham. The church is modern." John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)



Here is an 1848 historical perspective from the British topographer, Samuel A. Lewis:

"CLEVELY, a township, partly in the parish of Cockerham, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, but chiefly in the parish of Garstang, hundred of Amounderness, union of Garstang, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 4¼ miles (N. by E.) from Garstang; containing 124 inhabitants. It comprises 617 acres, the whole the property of the Duke of Hamilton. At Shire's Head, or Shire Side, is a chapel built of stone in 1800, on the site of a former edifice which had fallen into utter ruin: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Cockerham; net income, £93. A school has been erected on ground given by the duke."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 632-635. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50883 Date accessed: 21 July 2010.

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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Church records
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Parish registers for Cockerham, 1595-1900 Text in Latin and English. Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office,Preston. Includes records from Ellel chapelry, baptisms, 1727-1829, burials, 1764-1829; and Shireshead chapelry, baptisms, 1742-1746, 1799-1801, 1806-1829, burials, 1813-1829. Some missing years. Ellel chapellry is in Cockerham parish. Shireshead or Shirehead chapelry is in the parishes of Cockerham and Garstang. Lancashire Record Office no. : PR 1368-1381, 2688, 3251/1/3-8

Bishop's transcripts for Cockerham, 1673-1902 Microreproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Some parts are illegible due to torn pages, dark spots and faded ink. Ellel is a chapelry in the parish of Cockerham Shireshead is a chapelry in Cockerham and Garstang parishes. Lancashire Record Office no.: DRB 2/57-64

Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Lancaster Poor Law Union,Lancashire

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.

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

Web sites
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.