Neston, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
NESTON (St. Mary and St. Helen), is a parish, in the union, and Higher division of the hundred, of Wirrall, the Southern division of the county of Chester; containing with the townships of Ledsham, Leighton , Ness , Little Neston , Raby , Thornton-Hough , and Willaston. There are places of worship for Calvinists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. A Roman Catholic chapel, dedicated to St. Winifred, was built by Pugin in 1843.

Neston St Mary and St Helen is an ancient parish. The earliest written evidence of a church on the site dates from around 1170.

Church records
Neston St Mary and St Helen parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

Willaston parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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.

Cheshire, Church of England records are available online in Record Search.

Neston, St. Mary & St. Helen (C of E). An ancient parish church, originally serving the townships of Great Neston, Ledsham, Leighton (near Neston), Little Neston, Ness, Raby, Thornton Hough and Willaston (near Neston). Registers of Baptisms 1559–1965, Marriages 1559–1974 and Burials 1559–1918 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office Microfilm copy of original record in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester, England Cheshire Record Office call nos.: P149/1/1-5; P149/2/1-3; P149/3563/1-2; P149/4450/1-2, 4-7, 11-15, 22; P149/4617/1; P149/3/1-5; P149/4; P149/5/1-3.

Bishop's transcripts for Neston, 1581-1874 Microfilm of original records in the Cheshire Record Office, Chester, England. Records are not arranged in strict chronological order. Some intermittent years are missing. Cheshire Record Office no.: EDB/154

Parish Transcripts are available online at Cheshire Parish Register project.

Non-Conformist Churches
Neston, St. Winefride (Roman Catholic), Burton Road. Built in 1843. Neston, Zion Methodist Chapel, Little Neston (Primitive). Built in 1872. Neston, Presbyterian Church. Built in 1884. Neston, Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan), Park Street/High Street. Built in 1908. Neston, United Reformed Church (Independent/Congregational). Founded 1857, rebuilt in 1909.

Non-Conformist Records: Cheshire Non-conformist records are available online in Record Search. Church records of St. Winefride's Catholic Church, Neston, 1843-1943 Microfilm copy of originals at the Cheshire Record Office in Chester, England. Cheshire Record Office call no.: ERC 5/5072/1-7. Mostly Latin.
 * 1600s-1910 Cheshire Non-Conformist & Roman Catholic Registers (Baptism) 17th Century-1910 at FindMyPast ($); index and images (dates may vary by parish)
 * 1600s-1910 Cheshire Non-Conformist & Roman Catholic Registers (Marriages) 17th Century-1910 at FindMyPast ($); index and images (dates may vary by parish)
 * 1600s-1910 Cheshire Non-Conformist & Roman Catholic Registers (Burials) 17th Century-1910 at FindMyPast ($); index and images (dates may vary by parish)
 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

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

 * Wirral (1894–1974)
 * Chester and Ellesmere Port (1974–98)
 * Cheshire West (1998+)

Poor Law Unions

 * Wirral 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
Neston cum Parkgate on GENUKI