Church Lawton, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Church Lawton,



Parish History
Church Lawton is a small village and civil parish (sometimes known as Lawton) located in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. Its location is such that its eastern boundary forms part of the county boundary between Cheshire and Staffordshire and, because of its close proximity to Stoke-on-Trent, the parish has a Stoke-on-Trent postcode. In addition to ribbon development connecting Kidsgrove (in Staffordshire) with Scholar Green (in  Odd Rode, Cheshire parish), the parish also contains the hamlets of Lawton Gate, Lawton Heath and Lawton Heath End, and the Lawton Hall estate

Church Lawton, All Saints is an Ancient Parish in Cheshire.

The church was founded around the end of the 11th century, probably by Hugh de Mara, Lord of Lawton.There is a tradition that in the 8th century the body of St Werburgh rested overnight on the site of the church while it was being carried from Lincolnshire to Chester. In 1652 the church was struck by lightning and 11 people in the church were killed. The body of the church was destroyed by fire in 1798 and rebuilt by 1803. Following the fire of 1798 the body of the church was rebuilt in brick in neoclassical style. The cost of this was around £8,000. A south porch was added in 1923.

Church Lawton is an ancient parish, though there is some evidence that it began by being part of the ancient parish of Astbury (now Newbold Astbury.). It also was part of Nantwich Hundred, Congleton Poor Law Union, Rural Sanitary District, and after 1866 it formed part of Congleton Rural District. County boundary changes in 1965 led to an exchange of small pieces of land between it and the civil parish of Kidsgrove, in Kidsgrove Urban District, in the neighbouring county of Staffordshire. From 1974 the civil parish was served by Congleton Borough Council, which was succeeded on 1 April 2009 by the new unitary authority of Cheshire East.

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

 * Congleton (1837–1937)
 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton and Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire East (post 1998) Online events may be searched 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.

Parish registers for Church-Lawton, 1559-1966 Cheshire Record Office call number: P109/4501/1-2, P109/4795/1-2,10-12.

An index for Cheshire parish registers is available online in FamilySearch Historical Records (formerly Record Search). Here is a list of church records on microfilm at the Family History Libraryin Salt Lake City.

Bishop's transcripts for Church-Lawton, 1596-1879 Early text in Latin. Cheshire Record Office call number: EDB 66.

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, bishop’s transcripts is available online in FamilySearch Historical records (formerly Record Search).

Non-Conformist Churches
Hall Green, Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Built in 1874.

Non-Conformist 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.

Poor Law Unions

 * Congleton Poor Law Union, Cheshire

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