Croft with Southworth, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Parish History
CROFT, with Southworth (Christ Church), a parish, in the union of Warrington, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 5 miles (N. N. E.) from Warrington; containing 1155 inhabitants. The Croft family held lands in Croft in the reign of Edward III.; Southworth gave name to the knightly family of Southworth, and both manors were possessed by Sir John Southworth in the 39th of Elizabeth. They subsequently passed to other families, and also belonged to the Roman Catholic establishment at Stonyhurst. This is a new parish formed out of the parish of Winwick by act of parliament, in 1845. It comprises 1851 acres, whereof 1288 are meadow and pasture, and the remainder nearly all arable; the surface is level, and the soil clay and peat. The population consists partly of handloom weavers. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Earl of Derby: the tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £230; and there is a glebe-house, built at the expense of the rector of Winwick. The church, which is in the later English style, with a tower and spire, was erected in 1833, at the cost of £4000, defrayed by the rector of Winwick, aided by society grants. There are places of worship for Unitarians and Methodists; and a Roman Catholic chapel. A school is endowed with £6. 10. per annum, and a house and garden.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 725-729. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50905 Date accessed: 29 June 2010.

Civil Registration
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Church records
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Census records
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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.

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Web sites
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