Ercall Magna, Shropshire Genealogy

England   Shropshire



Parish History
Ercall Magna or High Ercall St Michael is an Ancient Parish in the county of Shropshire. Other places in the parish include: Cold Hatton, Walton, Cotwall and Moortown, Crudgington, Ellerdine, Haughton, Houghton, Isombridge, Osbaston, Poynton, Roden, Sleap, Tern, Tern and Walton, and Coldhatton.

ERCALL MAGNA (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Wellington, Wellington division of the hundred of South Bradford, N. division of Salop, 6 miles (N. W.) from Wellington; containing 1999 inhabitants. This place, which is of considerable antiquity, is noticed in the Norman survey as having a mill that yielded twelve weeks' provisions, and a fishery of 1500 great eels. In the reign of Henry III., John de Ercal or Ercalaw obtained the grant of a weekly market and an annual fair. During the civil war of the 17th century, Sir Richard Newport, of this place, supplied Charles I. with £6000, thus enabling his artillery to move against the parliamentarian forces immediately before the battle of Edge-Hill; in recompense for which service, Sir Richard was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Newport, of High Ercall. The parish comprises 11,799 acres, and the Shrewsbury canal passes through it. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £17. 6. 8.; net income, £273; patron, the Duke of Cleveland. The church is a spacious and ancient structure. At Rowton, at the extremity of the parish, is a chapel endowed with about £100 per annum. A free grammar school was founded and endowed under the benefaction of Thomas Leeke, a baron of the exchequer, in 1663; the income is £93. An hospital for the maintenance of seven decayed householders was founded by the Earl of Bradford, in 1694.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 177-181. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50949 Date accessed: 10 May 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.

Church records
High Ercall Bishop's transcripts held at Lichfield Record Office Bap 1631-1870 Marr 1631-1836 Bur 1631-1870

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

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Shropshire 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