Bidston, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
BIDSTON or BIDSTONE, is a parish, in the union, and Lower division of the hundred of Wirral, S. division of the county of Chester; comprising the townships of Bidston with Ford, Moreton with Lingham, and Saughall Massey ; is 4 miles W by N from Birkenhead. The church is of the date 1547.

Bidston St Oswald Bidston cum Ford was a township in Bidston Parish, Wirral Hundred and included Bidston Moss and Ford.— See Mortimer’s History of the Hundred of Wirral.

The original church dates back to the 13th century. The tower was built in 1520. The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1855–56 by W. J. Hay in Gothic Revival style. An extension was made to the chancel in 1882 by G. E. Grayson.

Church Records
Bidston St Oswald parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

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

Bidston, St. Oswald (C of E), an ancient parish church, originally served the townships of Bidston cum Ford, Birkenhead, part of Claughton cum Grange, Moreton (near Wallasey) and Saughall Massie.

Parish registers for Bidstone, 1682-1958, are deposited at the Cheshire Record Office. CRO reference: P 86/1/1-2, 2/1-3, P 86/3631/1, P 86/3/1-8, P 86/3631/2/1, P 86/4/1-2, P 86/3631/3.

Bishop's transcripts for Bidstone, 1581-1863, are also deposited at the Cheshire Record Office; some years missing. CRO reference: EDB 25.

An index for Cheshire parish registers is available online in Record Searchat FamilySearch.org.

Here is a list of church registers on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

The baptismal, marriage and burial registers of the Parish of Bidston in the county of Chester, 1581 to 1700 Stmnt.Resp. edited and annotated by William Fergusson Irvine Authors Irvine, William Fergusson (Added Author) Church of England. Parish Church of Bidstone (Cheshire) (Added Author)

Notes Reproduction of: Birkenhead : Willmer Brothers, 1893. 100, xxvi p. "Reprinted from the 'The Birkenhead News'"--T.p. "Only 100 copies printed, of which this is no. 46"--T.p. verso. (Bidston is also known as Bidstone).includes index.

The transcripts for the parish are online at Cheshire Parish Register project.

Birkenhead, All Saints (C of E). The parish church for part of Bidston from 1911 to 1971.

Leasowe, St Chad (C of E). The parish church for part of Bidston from 1957.

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)
 * Roman Catholic
 * Society of Friends/Quaker
 * Wesleyan Methodist

Non-Conformists Church records from Family History Library:

Church records for the Palm Grove Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Claughton-cum-Grange 1875-1955: Marriages, 1875-1955. Film 2299418 Items 16 - 22

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

 * Wirral (1837-1861)
 * Birkenhead (1861-1933)

Poor Law Unions
Wirral 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
Bidston on GENUKI