Goostrey, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Goostrey

Parish History
Goostrey St Luke was created as a parish in 1724 from the chapelry of Goostrey cum Barnshaw within the ancient parish of Sandbach.

The parish of Goostrey is first mentioned in the Domesday Book and a church or chapel was present by 1244. By 1617 a timber-framed chapel was present on the site which consisted of a nave and a chancel with a south aisle belonging to the Booths of Twemlow. In 1667 another south aisle was constructed for Edmund Jodrell and this was enlarged in 1711. In 1792 this chapel was demolished and the present church built between 1792 and 1796.

St Luke's Church, a Church of England church, was built before 1220, but it was not until 1350 that the mother church of Sandbach allowed burials here. The parishioners of Goostrey frequently found the way to Sandbach impassable because of floods and must have rejoiced when the five mile (8 km) journey across the Rivers Dane and Croco was no longer necessary. The old church was timber framed, as Marton still is today, but all that remains from the Middle Ages of that church is the fifteenth century font.

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.

Registration Districts
Here is a list of registration districts that have included Goostry since 1837, with inclusion dates.


 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton and Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire East (1998+

Church Records
To find the names of the neighboring 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.

Goostry-with-Barnshaw is a chapelry in Sandbach parish. The following records of Goostry-with-Barnshaw are deposited at the Cheshire Record Office:


 * Parish registers for, 1561-1964. CRO call number: P124/1/1-4, 2/1-2, 3/1-2, 4/1-2.
 * Bishop's transcripts, 1576-1860. CRO call no.: EDB 95.

The following records are microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City:

Non-Conformist Churches
Goostrey, Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Built in 1875 and enlarged in 1930. Records are deposited at the Cheshire Record Office.


 * Minutes and accounts, 1875-1975, 3 volumes. CRO Document Reference EMS 186.

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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.

Poor Law Unions
Goostry has been included in the following poor law union from 1834 on.


 * Congleton

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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.