Tatham, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Parish History
TATHAM (St. James), a parish, in the hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire; containing, with the chapelry of Tatham-Fell, 677 inhabitants, of whom 324 are in Tatham township, 11 miles (N. E. by E.) from Lancaster. Whitaker explains Tatham to signify "the habitation of Tata." Before the reign of Richard I., a family of the local name possessed lands in Tatham, but the estate passed, before the 34th of Edward III., into the Dacre family. Elizabeth, co-heiress of Thomas Dacre, married Sir Thomas Harrington, of Hornby; and Tatham has since invariably passed with the honour of Hornby, not as an integral portion, but as an independent and distinct manor held by the lords of that place. The parish comprises 6343a. 2r. 16p., the soil of which is chiefly clay: the face of the country is in some parts extremely rugged; the scenery is frequently grand, and sometimes highly beautiful. The river Wenning flows through the north of the parish, which it partly bounds; and the Hindburn, a mountain torrent issuing from the moorland ravines south of Lowgill, mingles with the Wenning between the parishes of Tatham and Melling. A few mines of coal are in operation; and there is a good freestone-quarry: a bobbin-mill employs about 20 hands. The North-Western railway, from Lancaster into Yorkshire, intersects Tatham. A fair for cattle is held on March 12th, in the village of Lowgill. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 5.; net income, £195, with a house; patron, Pudsey Dawson, Esq., of Hornby Castle. The church is a small neat edifice of ancient date, with a tower built in 1722. At Tatham-Fell is a chapel, which was restored in 1840: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Tatham; net income, £125. A school is endowed with £26 per annum. A Roman road passes through the parish.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 303-310. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51329 Date accessed: 30 July 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.

Church records
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Census records
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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.

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Web sites
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