Southport Holy Trinity, Lancashire Genealogy

England   Lancashire   Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Prior to 1821, when Christ Church was built, the whole of North Meols, Lancashire parish, which stretched from Hundred End in the North to the Birkdale/ Ainsdale boundary in the south, was served by the ancient church of St. Cuthbert, Church town, but the growth of Southport in the early 19th century made the provision of a second church essential, and for twelve years or so, Southport Christ Church, Lancashire seemed to meet the need. But the village continued to grow and expand in a northeasterly direction towards Manchester Road which was the main road to the Lancashire industrial towns, and for some years church services had been held in a small, thatched, barn-like building known as "Halls Chapel" which stood near the present Hall Street (and was demolished in about 1853).

It was evident that another church was necessary, and the Revd. Charles Hesketh, who came to North Meols as Rector in 1835, took immediate steps to provide additional church accommodation both in Southport and Crossens with the help of his brother Peter Fleetwood Hesketh, who was the Lord of the Manor. In October 1836 a bazaar was held in the Southport Assembly Rooms under the patronage of Queen Adelaide, in aid of "the provision of two additional churches and schools in the parish of North Meols". This raised a sum of £450 and the two churches, Trinity and St. John's Crossens, Lancashire were both built in the following year, from plans said to have been prepared by the Rector.

SOUTHPORT, in the parish of North Meols, union of Ormskirk, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 9 miles northwest from Ormskirk, and 20 north of Liverpool. There are two churches. Christ Church, was erected in 1820. [Holy] Trinity Church, was consecrated in November 1837.

There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists; and a Roman Catholic chapel. The last, dedicated to Ste Marie-on-the-Sands, was built in 1840.

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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Transcripts for this parish are available.

Online Records
 Church of England 

Southport Holy Trinity chapelry's registers of christenings, marriages and burials, along with those of the ancient parish of North Meols to which it is attached, have been mostly transcribed and are displayed online at the following web sites and ranges of years:

For a full list of all those chapels surrounding Southport Holy Trinity and comprising the whole ancient parish of North Meols to which it was attached, be certain to see "Church Records" on the NORTH MEOLS PARISH page.

Poor Law Unions
Ormskirk Poor Law Union, Lancashire

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.

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
http://www.holytrinitysouthport.org.uk/history.html http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-479098-church-of-holy-trinity-southport