Frodsham, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
FRODSHAM, is a small town, a township, a lordship, a parish, and a sub-district in Runcorn district, Cheshire. The town stands adjacent to the Chester and Warrington railway, it is 10 miles NE of Chester. The town has a post office under Preston Brook and a railway station. The lord-ship of Frodsham adjoins the township on the NE; and consists of the hamlets of Bradley, Netherton , Overton , and Woodhouses. The parish contains also the townships of Helsby, Alvanley, Manley, Newton-by-Frodsham, Kingsley, and Norley. The chapelries of Alvanley, Kingsley, and Norley are separate benefices. There are seven dissenting chapels.

Frodsham St Laurence is an Ancient parish in the market town of Frodsham Cheshire. It includes Alvanley, Frodsham, Frodsham Lordship, Helsby, Kingsley, Manley, Newton by Frodsham and Norley.

The Domesday Book records the presence of a church with a priest in this position. In 1093 the tithes were given by Hugh Lupus to the abbot of St Werburgh's Abbey, Chester. In the 1270s they passed to the monastery of Vale Royal when it was founded by Edward I. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the tithes and advowson passed to the dean and chapter of Christ Church, Oxford. Frodsham is one of the ancient parishes of Cheshire and included the villages of Kingsley, Norley, Manley, Alvanley and Helsby. In the 19th century some of these villages formed separate parishes, Norley in 1836, Kingsley in 1851, Alvanley in 1861 and Helsby in 1875.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Cheshire ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Cheshire ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * 1600s-1910 Cheshire Non-Conformist & Roman Catholic Registers (Baptism) 17th Century-1910 at FindMyPast ($); index and images (dates may vary by parish)


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


 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

The following congregations have existed in Frodsham:


 * St. Luke (Roman Catholic), Ship Street. Founded 1949.
 * Trinity Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Built in 1823 in Chapel Lane, rebuilt in 1873 in Main Street.
 * Rock Methodist Chapel (Main Street). Built in 1837, closed in 1937.
 * Bourne Methodist Chapel (Free), Main Street. Built in 1877.
 * Newton Hall Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Opened in 1951, closed in 1983.
 * United Reformed Church (formerly Independent/Congregational and Baptist), Bridge Lane. Built in 1886.

Non-Conformist Records:

The following records are known to exist and are deposited at the Cheshire Record Office:


 * Trinity Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Registers of marriages 1874–96, CRO call number: EMS 62/1.
 * Rock Methodist Chapel (Main Street). Registers 1894–1913, CRO call number EMS 63.
 * Records for the Frodsham United Methodist Free Circuit, 1894-1913 (Localities include Frodsham, Helsby, Newton, Little Sutton, Acton Bridge, Kingsley, Weston, Little Barrow, Kingswood, Dunham Hill, Barrow, Manley, Bolton, Runcorn, Hapsford and New Brighton) are a the Cheshire Record Office call number: EMC 4/4653/6.
 * Bourne Methodist Chapel (Free). Various records 1874-1948, CRO call number EMS 266.
 * Newton Hall Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Registers 1951-1983, CRO call number EMS 311.

The following records are on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City:

Record Search, available at FamilySearch.org, includes Cheshire Non-Conformist records.

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

 * Runcorn (1837–1974)
 * Vale Royal (1974–98)
 * Cheshire Central (1998–2009)
 * Cheshire West (post 2009)

Poor Law Unions
Runcorn 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
Frodsham on GENUKI