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.

Church Records


Frodsham 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 are also available at the Cheshire Archives and Local Studies.

Non-Conformist Churches
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 exis 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