Chester St Peter, Cheshire Genealogy

Parish History
St Peter is a parish in the city of Chester. For more information on the city, see Chester.

Chester St Peter Chester is an ancient parish church serving part of the city of Chester.

St Peter's Church, Chester is in Eastgate Street in the centre of the city of Chester, Cheshire, England, immediately to the north of Chester Cross. It is a Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. Its benefice is united with that of St John's, Chester.

A church is said to have been built on this site by Ethelfleda in 907. The present church dates from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, with modifications in the following three centuries. Formerly the tower had a spire which was removed and rebuilt in the 16th century, taken down in the 17th century, then rebuilt and finally removed "having been much injured by lightning" about 1780. In 1886 the church was restored by John Douglas, which included the addition of a pyramidal spire.

Church Records
Chester St Peter parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

To find the names of the neighboring 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 St. Peter's Church, Chester, 1588-1958 Cheshire Record Office reference: P 63/1/1-3, P63/2/1-3, P63/3/1-5, P63/4/1-3, P63/5, P63/4658/1-3, P63/5266

An index for Cheshire parish registers is available online at FamilySearch Historical Records

Bishop's transcripts for St. Peter's Church, Chester, 1600-1879 Cheshire Record Office reference: EDB 61

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop's Transcripts (Diocese of Chester) is available online at FamilySearch Historical Records

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 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

Civil Registration Districts

 * Great Boughton (1837-69)

Poor Law Unions
Chester Poor Law Union

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
Chester St Peter on GENUKI