Church Gresley, Derbyshire Genealogy

Derbyshire Derbyshire Parishes  Church Gresley

Parish History
Church Gresley is an Ancient Parish in the county of Derbyshire. Other places in the parish include: Donisthorpe, Oakthorpe, Castle Gresley, Drakelow, and Linton. GRESLEY, CHURCH, a parish, in the union of Burton-upon-Trent, hundred of Repton and Gresley, S. division of the county of Derby, 5 miles (S. E.) from Burton; comprising the townships of ChurchGresley, Drakelow, Linton, and Swadlincote, the hamlet of Castle-Gresley, and part of the hamlets of Donisthorpe and Oakthorpe; and containing 2764 inhabitants. A priory of canons, of the order of St. Augustine, was founded here in the reign of Henry I. by one of the Gresley family, and dedicated to St. Mary and St. George; its revenue at the Dissolution was valued at £39. 13. 8. Henry VIII. granted the site in 1543 to Henry Criche. In 1556 Sir Christopher Aleyne, Knt., purchased the estate, with the manor of Church-Gresley, of the Seymours; and it was afterwards in the Meynells, of whom it was purchased, about 1775, by Sir Nigel Gresley, Bart. The parish is partly bounded on the north by the river Trent, and comprises 4712a. 2r. 13p., in about equal portions of arable and pasture; the soil is generally a strong clay, and the scenery is of pleasing character, in some parts richly embellished with woods and plantations. The substratum abounds with coal and various kinds of clay, of the former of which an extensive mine is in operation in the township of Church-Gresley, and four others are wrought in the hamlet of Swadlincote. A very extensive manufacture of earthenware is carried on, affording employment to more than 300 persons; a peculiar vein of clay is found, for making fire-bricks; and there is an abundance of common clay for bricks, in making which a great number of the population is engaged. Ironstone is raised for the roads; and there is a quarry of soft stone, which is used in the coal-mines, and, when pulverised, is substituted for sand. Tramways have been formed to the Ashby canal. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £108, with a good residence, built in 1837; patron, the Rev. George Wood Lloyd, D.D. The church is an ancient structure, of which the tower is in the Norman style, and the remainder of more modern date. At Donisthorpe, a church was built and endowed by three ladies of the name of Moore, in 1838; and another church has been built at Swadlincote. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans; and a national school supported by subscription.

From: 'Greet - Gretton', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 338-340. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50990&amp;amp;strquery=church gresley Date accessed: 08 March 2011.

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.

Staffordshire BMD includes registered births for the Burton upon Trent Registration District. http://www.staffordshirebmd.org.uk/cgi/birthind.cgi?county=staffordshire The registration district prior to 1937 included this parish. From 1937 onwards the Repton district was responsible. Registers are now held at The Register Office, Royal Oak House, Market Place, Derby, DE1 3AR. Tel: 01332 256526/35/36. Fax: 01332 256525. E-mail: registeroffice@derby.gov.uk

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Transcript series may be found at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brett/parregs.htm from 1841 and with burials from 1695.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Derbyshire 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
Burton upon Trent Poor Law Union,Staffordshire

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.