Congleton St Peter, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
CONGLETON, is an incorporated market-town, a chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Astbury, having separate jurisdiction, it is locally in the hundred of Northwich, S. division of the county of Chester. The chapel is dedicated to St. Peter. At Congleton Moss, a church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity it was erected in 1845. Two districts or ecclesiastical parishes have been formed under Sir Robert Peel's act: in the one, St. Stephen's district, a chapel has been purchased from the dissenters, in the other, St. James', a church. There are places of worship forIndependents, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. 

Congleton St Peter, Chapel Street, Congleton, Cheshire was formerly a chapelry in Astbury, Cheshire parish from 1720, becoming the parish church for part of Congleton in 1867. It has a burial ground for the town.

The original church on the site was timber framed but by 1740 its structure had become decayed. A new church was built in the Neoclassical style and completed by 1742. The lower part of the 14th century tower was retained, the restoration of this in the Gothic style being completed in 1786. The architect was William Baker of Audlem.

Further parishes (originally created as chapelries) in Congleton with their own page are:

Congleton St Stephen, Cheshire, Brook Street. A separate chapel from 1845 serving part of Congleton township. Congleton St James, Cheshire, West Street. A separate chapel from 1844 serving part of Congleton township (no burials here). Mossley, Holy Trinity, was founded 1846 as a district chapel for the Mossley district of Congleton township. Other closely associated chapelries to Congleton and Mossley which also stood within Astbury ancient parish included: Buglawton, Rode, Smallwood, and Somerford; together with several places of worship for dissenters in the parish.

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

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.

Bishop's transcripts for St. Peter's Church, Congleton, 1745-1796 An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s transcripts is available online at FamilySearch Historical Records (formerly Record Search). Here is a list of church records on microfilm at theFamily History Library in Salt Lake City.

Registers of Baptisms 1719–1975, Marriages 1719–1772, 1839–1931, and Burials 1719–1913 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office call number P 260 (see Astbury St Mary)

Non-Conformist records

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

Cheshire Record Office Document Reference ERC 20 Title Congleton St Mary Catholic Church Date 1822-1965 Description registers of baptism 1822-1965, marriage 1831-1962, death 1856-1932, 1948 URL http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=017-erc20&amp;cid=0

Society of Friends. Cheshire Monthly Meeting (Mobberley, Cheshire) Burials, 1655-1831 Microfilm of original records at the London Public Record Office, London. Also includes records for Congleton. RG-6 nos. 1603, 1329, 97, 98, 214

Church records for the Queen Street New Connexion Methodist Chapel, Congleton, 1898-1944 Cheshire Record Office call number EMS 74/1/1.

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

 * Congleton (1837–1937)
 * Macclesfield (1937–74)
 * Congleton and Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire East (post 1998)

Poor Law Unions

 * Congleton 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.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Congleton onGENUKI

Congleton St Peter on GENUKI