Liverpool St Martin in the Fields, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Liverpool St Martin-in-the-fields Silvester Street was created in 1829 from, and lying within the boundaries of Liverpool St Peter and St Nicholas, Lancashire. Consecrated on 13th January 1829 it was soon to change appearance. It was built of reddish sandstone but it turned black because of the industrial area, and it became known as "The Black Church". It was built on Great Oxford Street North, (now St Silvester Street).

It was closed in 1946 after war time damage however it had declined and ceased to hold services earlier. It was demolished in the 1950's and re-interment and gravestone removal to St Mary Walton brought municipal facilities including a bowling green and children's play area to the site.

"The [chapel of ease] of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields [stood within the civil parish boundaries of St Nicholas Liverpool and] was erected in 1828, by the Parliamentary Commissioners, at an expense of £20,037, and is a handsome structure in the later English style, adorned with a square embattled tower with angular turrets, surmounted by an octagonal spire: the structure forms a striking ornament at the entrance into the town from the Ormskirk road. The interior presents a highly enriched appearance, and has some peculiar features worthy of notice. The chancel extends into the nave, and is fenced by parclose screens of carved oak; it is raised above the level of the nave, and the sacrarium three steps above the chancel, the entire area being paved with encaustic tiles. The east window has been filled with stained glass by Wailes, of Newcastle, at a cost of £350, and contains not fewer than 180 figures. The prayers are intoned from the most western stall, and the responses chaunted antiphonally from each side by a surpliced choir of twenty voices; on the chancel step is a lectern, from which the lessons are read, and in the nave a desk, where the litany is sung. Open sittings, with ample kneeling accommodation, have just been substituted for the pews. Close to the church are handsome schools, in the Elizabethan style, erected at a cost of nearly £3000. The living is in the gift of the Trustees of the Rev. Charles Simeon; income, £300, exclusively of £100 for a curate."

Adapted from: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 104-118. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51112 Date accessed: 02 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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Church records
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
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http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Liverpool, Lancashire Poor Law Union

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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