Prees, Shropshire Genealogy

Parish History
PREES (St. Chad), a parish, in the union of Wem, Whitchurch division of the hundred of North Bradford, N. division of Salop; There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists; and charity schools with several small endowments. Prees is an Ancient Parish in the county of Shropshire. Other places in the parish include: Darliston, Fauls, Faulsgreen, Willaston, Millenheath, Sandford, Steel, and Mickley.

PREES (St. Chad), a parish, in the union of Wem, Whitchurch division of the hundred of North Bradford, N. division of Salop; containing 3270 inhabitants, of whom 1538 are in the township of Prees with Steel, 4¾ miles (N. E.) from Wem. The parish comprises between 13,000 and 14,000 acres, and is intersected by the road from Whitchurch to Shrewsbury, and by that from Chester to Birmingham. Prees once had a weekly market and annual fair, the former of which has been long disused: two fairs are now held on the second Mondays in April and October. A considerable traffic is carried on in coal, lime, and slate, by means of the Quise Brook canal, which runs through the parish. The living is a vicarage (with the great tithes of the township of Whixall annexed), valued in the king's books at £10; net income, £471; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Lichfield. The glebe comprises 68 acres. The church, an ancient cruciform structure, with a tower of modern erection, contains two old figures of Moses and Aaron, and some pieces of tessellated pavement; also several monuments to the ancestors of the late General Lord Hill, who was born here in 1772. At Whixall and Calverhall are chapels. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists; and charity schools with several small endowments.

From:, A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 605-609. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51222 Date accessed: 09 May 2011.

In 1856 Fauls Holy Immanuel was created from this parish.

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
Prees parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records may be found on Mel Lockie. Records are also available at the Shropshire Archives.

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

Websites
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SAL/Prees/index.html