Didsbury, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Church History
Didsbury Christ Church was created a chapel of ease in 1603 from, and lying within the boundaries of Manchester ancient parish.

William Roberts was a brewer in Manchester and owned the Crown Brewery in Hulme in 1851. In the 1870s he employed 62 men and lived at Oaks Farm which occupied the site which is now St. Ambrose's Church.

During the 1860s and 70s the area between Palatine Road and Burton Road was developed and St. Luke’s Church was built as a chapel-of-ease for Didsbury St James, Lancashire. Plans were in hand for the creation of a new parish and a group of residents obtained an option of a site at the corner of Burton Road and Barlow Moor Road (the site of the Burton Road Mosque). At this point Mr. Roberts offered to build a church and rectory at his own expense but insisted on the present site, the corner of Darley Avenue and Princess Road. In 1881 he was still living on the Chorlton/Didsbury boarder and would have watched the building of the Church and Rectory,

"DIDSBURY, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Manchester, union of Chorlton, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 5½ miles (S.) from Manchester; containing 5008 inhabitants, of whom 1248 are in the township of Didsbury. This chapelry, which is separated from Cheshire by the river Mersey, consists of the townships of Didsbury, Heaton-Norris, Burnage, and Withington; and comprises about 6190 acres, whereof 1560 are in Didsbury. The village lies on the road from Manchester to Congleton. A spinning, weaving, and bleaching manufactory, called Heaton-Mersey mills, employs about 1000 hands. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £188; patron, James Darwell, Esq.; appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Manchester. The glebe contains 141/5 Lancashire acres, situated in the parish of Flixton. The chapel is dedicated to St. James, and is a very ancient structure, erected at different periods; it was repaired in 1620, when the tower was also rebuilt: there are several monuments to members of the families of Mosley and Bland, and a very interesting one to the family of Sir Nicolas Mosley, who was lord mayor of London about the year 1673. At Heaton-Norris is the old living of St. Thomas'. A church has lately been erected at Withington, to which the townships of Withington and Burnage have been assigned as a district; and another church has just been built at Heaton-Mersey, to which that part of the township of Heaton-Norris has been attached. The Wesleyans have a place of worship at Withington, and in the village of Didsbury a theological institution, adapted for 40 students. The building of the institution has an ornamental stone front, and retiring wings, forming three sides of a quadrangle; the centre part was the mansion of the late Col. Parker: attached are ten acres of land, beautifully laid out. Among the other places of worship is one at Heaton-Mersey for Independents, who have a college at Withington. Schools are supported by subscription, aided by a small endowment. The registers record the interment here of some officers of the royalist and parliamentary armies.

From: Samuel A. Lewis'  A Topographical Dictionary of England (pub. 1848), pp. 46-55. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50919 Date accessed: 08 March 2011.

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

Didsbury- Christ Church Banns-1882-1955- MFPR 2174 Baptisms-1882-1931- MFPR 2173 Baptisms-1905-1930- MFPR 2173 (St Mary's Chapel) Baptisms-1931-1959- Archives M652 Marriages-1882-1931- MFPR 2173 Marriages-1931-1954- MFPR 2174 Marriages-1954-1984- Archives M652

The Manchester Room and Greater Manchester County Record Office Email: archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk

The Manchester Room@City Library (Local Studies)

Parish registers for Christ Church, Didsbury, 1882-1956 Microfilm of original records formerly held at the Manchester Archives Central Library in Manchester, England. Didsbury was a chapelry in Manchester parish.Manchester Archives Central Library call nos.: M652/DRO 1-2, 4-5, 10-11.

Census records
Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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

Poor Law Unions
Chorlton 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
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