Acton, Cheshire Genealogy

England   Cheshire England    Cheshire Parishes



Parish History
ACTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Brentford, Kensington division of the hundred of Ossulstone, county of Middlesex, 5 miles (W.) from London.

Acton St Mary near Nantwich is an Ancient parish which commenced keeping parish registers from the year 1653. The parish includes Worleston, Stoke, Sound, Poole, Newhall, Hurleston, Henhull, Faddiley, Edleston, Edlaston, Coole Pilate, Cool Pilate, Cholmondestone, Baddington, Brindley, Burland, Cholmondeston, Aston juxta Mondrum, Austerson, and Aston.

A church has been present on this site since before the time of the Domesday Survey. The tower is the oldest in Cheshire, although it had to be largely rebuilt after it fell in 1757. One unusual feature of the interior of the church is that the old stone seating around its sides has been retained.

The presence of a church with two priests on the site is recorded in the Domesday Book. The church and its lands were given by the second Baron of Wich Malbank to Combermere Abbey early in the 12th century. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the advowson was granted to Richard Wilbraham and it then passed to the Lords Tollemache.

The tower was built about 1180, which makes it the oldest tower in Cheshire. When it was built it was over 100 feet high but its top collapsed in a storm in March 1757 damaging the roof of the church and the clerestory. It was rebuilt but only to a height of 80 feet. The north aisle was built in the last quarter of the 14th century in Decorated style and the south aisle and chancel were built early in the 15th century. The internal fittings of the church were damaged in the Civil War.There were restorations in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a further restoration in 1897–98 by Austin and Paley.

Registration Districts
Here is a list of registration districts that included Acton from 1837, with dates of inclusion.


 * Nantwich (1837–1937)
 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton and Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire Central (post 1998)

Registration events can be searched online at Cheshire BMD

Church Records
Acton parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have online indexes by the following groups:

Cheshire The following records are deposited at the Record Office:


 * Parish registers for Acton-near-Nantwich, 1653-1999.
 * Bishop's transcripts for Acton, 1586-1886. CRO reference: EDB 1.

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, parish registers and bishop’s transcripts (Diocese of Chester) is available online in Record Search at FamilySearch.org.

Here is a list of church records for Acton on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City.

Non-Conformist Churches
Acton (Weaverham) Methodist Chapel. The chapel was built by the Wesleyan Methodists in Forest Road in 1878 next to an earlier chapel erected in c.1834. The first chapel was used by the Sunday School until new premises were built adjoining the new chapel in 1903.


 * Registers and Minutes, 1898-1972. Cheshire Record Reference EMS 310.

Poor Law Unions

 * Nantwich Poor Law Union

Probate Records
Cheshire Probate Records see also England Cheshire Probate Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)