Chesterton, Staffordshire Genealogy

England Staffordshire

Parish History
Chesterton is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Staffordshire, created in 1846 from Audley, Staffordshire Ancient Parish and  Wolstanton, Staffordshire Ancient Parish.

CHESTERTON, an ecclesiastical district, partly in the parish of Audley, union of Newcastle-underLyme, but chiefly in the parish of Wolstanton, union of Wolstanton and Burslem, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford; containing upwards of 2000 inhabitants, of whom 1207 are in the township of Chesterton, 2 miles (N. by W.) from Newcastle. The name of Chesterton evidently has reference to the ancient Roman fortress situated here, the Mediolanum of Antonine; the site is still clearly marked out, and a large fosse exists along the north side of the station. Camden calls the place Chesterton-under-Lyme. The district comprises 2700 acres, whereof 843 are in Audley parish, and 1857 in the parish of Wolstanton; the township of Chesterton, which is wholly in Wolstanton, contains about 1100 acres, lying on the north side of that parish. The surface is hilly, and consists of such land as is usual above iron and coal mines; parts are wooded, and the views are extensive. The road from Newcastle to Liverpool passes on the east; and Sir Nigel Gresley's canal (now belonging to R. E. Heathcote, Esq.) runs through. Considerable quantities of blue bricks, tiles, and pipes for drains and conduits, of superior hardness, are manufactured here; and potteries have been established at Red-street, in the northern part of Chesterton township, for a long period. There are iron and coal mines, several blast-furnaces for smelting the ironstone, and extensive iron-works belonging to Mr. Heathcote. The district was constituted in July, 1846, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37: the living is in the gift of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately. At Chesterton are places of worship for Wesleyans and Independents; at Alsager's Bank, about two miles and a half west of that village, is another place of worship for dissenters, and at Red-street a small Unitarian meeting-house. The site of an ancient castle of John of Gaunt's, is to be seen behind an old mansion in Chesterton, called the Old Hall: the castle was removed to Newcastle, from which circumstance that place derived its name.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 576-586. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50871 Date accessed: 03 April 2011.

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
Chesterton Holy Trinity formed in 1846 from parts of Audley, Staffordshire and Wolstanton, Staffordshire

Deposited parish registers at Staffordshire Record Office Bap 1846-1969 Mar 1852-1984 Bur 1852-1946 Lichfield Record Office holdings of Bishop's Transcripts Bap 1846-1850 Mar none Bur none

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

Poor Law Unions
Wolstanton and Burslem Poor Law Union, Staffordshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire 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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain