Brereton cum Smethwick, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
BRERETON-CUM-SMETHWICK, is a parish in Congleton district, Cheshire; it is on the River Croke, 2 miles SE of Holmes-Chapel railway station, and 3 miles NE by N of Sandbach. It has a post office by the name of Brereton under Congleton. There are three dissenting chapels.

Brererton cum Smethwick, St Oswald, Cheshire is an Ancient parish including Smethwick.

Raymond Richards relates that there was a chapel at Brereton from the reign of Richard I (1189-99). Canon Sladden in Beside the Bright Stream relates that Sir William Brereton built a church at Brereton about 1200 to fulfill it is dedicated it to St. Oswald of Northumberland.

Brereton was originally in the parish of Astbury, Cheshire and became a parish in its own right in the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47). The church registers begin in 1538. The list of ministers goes back to Gilbert de Brereton in 1297.

Church Records
Brereton cum Smethwick 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.

Parish registers for Brereton-cum-Smethwick, 1538-1972 Cheshire Record Office reference: P138/1/1-4, P138/2, P138/3/1-3; P138/4, P138/3205/1, P138/6125/1.

An index for Cheshire parish registers is available online in FamilySearch Historical Records (formerly Record Search)

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

Bishop's transcripts of Brereton-cum-Smethwick, 1593-1840 Early text in Latin.Cheshire Record Office reference: EDB 34.

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s Transcripts (Diocese of Chester) is available online in FamilySearch Historical Records (formerly Record Search)

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images
 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Brereton, Methodist Chapel (Primitive). Built in 1882, closed c.1923.

Non-Conformist Records:

Cheshire Record OfficeReference EMS 86 Brereton cum Smethwick Brereton Methodist Chapel Date 19th century - 20th century Various records1882-1923 Their website is here.

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

 * Congleton

Poor Law Unions
Congleton 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
Brereton cum Smethwick on GENUKI