Chester St Mary on the Hill, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire   Chester St Mary on the Hill

Parish History
Chester, St. Mary on the Hill. An ancient parish church, originally serving the townships of Claverton, Little Mollington, Marlston cum Lache, Moston (near Chester), Upton by Chester and part of the city of Chester. The original church was closed in 1887 and replaced by St. Mary without the Walls in Overleigh Road.

The original church on the site was Norman and it served the castle. The present church dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. The south chapel was built around 1443 and was owned by the Earl of Shrewsbury. It was damaged in 1645 during the Civil War and collapsed in 1661. It was rebuilt in 1693. During the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 the upper stage of the tower was demolished by Lord Cholmondeley in order to provide a clear line of fire. The church was restored in 1861–62 by James Harrison and in 1890–92 by J. P. Seddon. The north porch was rebuilt in 1892 in memory of Randle Holme III.

St Mary's Centre, formerly the Church of St Mary-on-the-Hill, Chester, stands at the top of St Mary's Hill, Chester, Cheshire, England near Chester Castle. It is a Grade I listed building. The church stands at the top of a narrow winding lane which leads down to the River Dee and it is adjacent to Chester Castle. In the 1970s the church was converted into an educational centre.

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 events may be searched 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.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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.

Registers of Baptisms 1628–1984, Marriages 1630–1975 and Burials 1628–1854 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office. Bishop's Trancripts Cheshire Record Office reference :EDB 56

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s Transcripts is available online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

Poor Law Unions
Chester Poor Law Union

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.

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
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.