Garstang, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

See a List of Chapels and Chapelries in the Parish of Garstang



Parish History
Garstang is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Lancashire.

Other places in the parish include: Bilsborough, Billisborrow, Cabus, Catteral, Catterall, Claughton, Cleveley, Forton, Holleth, Kirkland, Nateby, Nether Wyresdale, Winmarleigh, Barnacre with Bonds, Barnacre with Ronds, and Bilsborrow.

The church of St Helen in located in the township of Churchtown (formerly Kirkland) about 2 miles south of the main village of Garstang.

The oldest part of the Church of St Helen dates back to around 1200 AD and the near circular shape of the building suggests that it is possibly a pre-Christian site. The first minister was appointed in 1190. The oldest date stone is 1632. St Helen has been referred to as ‘The Cathedral of the Fylde‘

The first Chapel of Ease was built in 1327 on a site to the rear of the High Sreet; this was demolished and replaced by a new chapel in 1770. It occupies a plot in present day Church Street, which until then had been known as Tythe Barn Lane. It was first known as "All Saints Chapel,of Ease" and became St Thomas' Church in 1848. The Parish was established in 1881 as a separate entity to St Helens Church at Churchtown, some two miles to the SW of the town, and the main Anglican Church in the area for centuries. The graveyard at St Thomas's was first used in 1849, and extended in 1955.



"GARSTANG (St. Helen), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster; comprising the townships of Barnacre with Bonds, Billisborrow, Cabus, Catterall, Claughton, Cleveley, Forton, Garstang, Holleth, Kirkland, Nateby, Pilling, Winmarleigh, and Nether Wyersdale; and containing 7659 inhabitants, of whom 909 are in the town, 11 miles (S. by E.) from Lancaster, 11 (N. by W.) from Preston, and 229 (N. W. by N.) from London. During the parliamentary war, this parish was the scene of some slight military operations; the castle of Greenhalgh, the ruins of which are in the adjoining hamlet of Bonds, was held for the king, by the Earl of Derby, in 1643. When the Scottish adherents to the Pretender made their incursion into England, in 1715, they halted at Garstang, before taking possession of Preston; and in the following year, some of the rebels were executed at this place. The town is situated on the river Wyre, upon the road between Preston and Lancaster. The more ancient part consists of houses indifferently built, and streets irregularly formed; but great improvements have lately been introduced, and the streets are now well paved, the town is lighted, and a few houses of respectability have been added. The scenery in the vicinity is beautiful. There are several cotton-mills and a worsted-mill. The market is on Thursday; a market for cattle is held every alternate Thursday between the first Thursday in Lent and HolyThursday; and fairs take place on Holy-Thursday, July 10th, and November 22nd. The Lancaster canal crosses the river by a handsome aqueduct, near the end of the principal street; and the Lancaster and Preston railway has a station at Barnacre, two miles distant from the town. The inhabitants were incorporated by a charter bestowed in 1314, but this was superseded by a new one granted by Charles II., in 1680, with additional privileges, by which the government was vested in a bailiff and seven capital burgesses, elected on the 29th of September; the freedom is obtained by birth, or by apprenticeship to a freeman: the borough is coextensive with the township. The powers of the county debt-court of Garstang, established in 1847, extend over the greater part of the registration-district of Garstang. The town-hall, situated in the market-place, was built principally at the expense of the corporation, in 1755, on the site of the former edifice: the petty-sessions for the hundred of Amounderness are held at the Royal Oak inn, every alternate Thursday.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 3. 4.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. James Pedder; impropriators, the families of Pedder and Standish: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £480. The church is a stately structure, about two miles from the town, in that part of the parish called Garstang Church-Town, in the township of Kirkland: having been injured by the overflowing of the Wyre, near which it stands, it was repaired in 1746, and again in 1811 at an expense of £1200, defrayed jointly by the parishioners and T. Strickland Standish, Esq. There is a chapel within the town, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar; net income, £150, with a parsonage-house. At Pilling is a third incumbency. The Independents, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics have each a place of worship. A grammar school was built about the year 1757; and a Church of England school for boys and girls was erected in 1845, by subscription, aided by the National Society and the Privy Council: there is a school for Roman Catholics, endowed with £40 per annum. The poor law union of Garstang comprises 23 parishes or places, containing about 13,000 inhabitants."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 279-282. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50977 Date accessed: 30 June 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

Church records
Parish registers for St. Helen's Church, Garstang Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Lancashire Record Office no. : PR 2398-2425; 2432; 2963/1-2; 3239/1,3,5

Baptisms and burials 1567-1780 Marriages 1567-1754 FHL BRITISH Film 1278942 Items 14-24 Baptisms and burials 1780-1862 Marriages 1754-1856 Register of affidavits of burials in Woollen 1678-1691 Banns 1780-1872 Register of memo of baptisms and 1819-1825 burials 1835-1852 Draft burials and baptisms 1768-1783 FHL BRITISH Film 1278886 Marriages 1856-1900 Banns 1873-1900 Register of confirmations 1838-1900 FHL BRITISH Film 1278890 Items 1-4

Bishop's transcripts for St. Helen's Church, Garstang Microfilm of originals at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Some parts are illegible due to torn pages, dark spots, faded ink. DRB 2/76-88

Parish registers of St Thomas Garstang Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Contains baptisms and marriages 1881-1900; burials 1840-1900; copy of baptism registers 1824-1858; Statistics and communicants 1847-1851; memorandum book (baptisms) 1858-1881. Lancashire Record Office no. : PR 3240/1/1, 3, 6, 14-15

Parish registers FHL BRITISH Film 1470930 Items 20-24

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

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

Poor Law Unions
Garstang 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.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53240&amp;strquery=garstang British History online