Gressingham, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
GRESSINGHAM, a chapelry, in the parish of Lancaster, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 8 miles (N. E.) from Lancaster; containing 185 inhabitants. A family of the same name was seated here at a very early period; and mention is made of several families who subsequently held lands within the township, amongst them the De Burghs, in the reign of Henry III., and Stanleys, in that of Elizabeth. The place is situated on the west side of the river Lune, and has some beautiful sites for building, with fine views of Hornby Castle, the vale of the Lune, Ingleborough, and other distant Yorkshire hills. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Lancaster; net income, £80, with a house; impropriator, Francis Pearson, Esq., of Kirkby-Lonsdale, in right of his ancient estate of Gressingham Hall. The church is an old structure, with a square tower, and fine Saxon porch, and contains two small brasses.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 338-340. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50990 Date accessed: 01 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.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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