Knotty Ash St John the Evangelist, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Knotty Ash St John the Evangelist was created a chapelry in 1836 from, and lying within the boundaries of Walton on the Hill St Mary, Lancashire ancient parish. The foundation stone of the Church was laid on June 26th, 1834, the following inscription being engraved on a brass plate, which was laid in the plinth stone:

“On the 26th day of June Anno Domini, 1834, this Foundation Stone was laid by Adam Dugdale Esq. of Dovecot House, on land given by him for the erection of this church for the service of the Church of England; it is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, and was built by donations and subscriptions.”

The church was consecrated 18 February 1836.

Knotty Ash is a small area on the eastern fringe of Liverpool and neighbouring districts include West Derby, Old Swan, Broadgreen and Dovecot.

It derived its name from a gnarled ash tree, and was made famous in the United Kingdom by stand-up comedian and local resident Ken Dodd and his Diddy Men concept. In 2004, Mr Dodd planted a new ash tree close to the site of the original (outside the Knotty Ash pub). According to the 1969 BBC children's television programme Ken Dodd And The Diddymen, the fictitious Diddyland, boasting the highest sunshine rate in the world, was situated in the centre of Knotty Ash.

The modern parish team ministry is within the deanery of Huyton of the Diocese of Liverpool which was formed from the historical Diocese of Chester.

KNOTTY-ASH, an ecclesiastical district, in the district parish of West Derby, parish of Walton-on-the-Hill, union and hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 4 miles (E.) from Liverpool, on the road to Prescot. The situation of this locality is very beautiful, and its air salubrious; it contains several handsome mansions, and some of the principal merchants of Liverpool have seats and villas here. Knotty-Ash House is the property of the Worrall family. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Trustees; income, £150, with a good house. The church, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, was built in 1836, and is a handsome edifice in the early English style, with a tower surmounted by a spire. There are schools in connexion with the church.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 708-710. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51086 Date accessed: 01 July 2010.

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/

Church records
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Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
West Derby, Lancashire Poor Law Union

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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