Bispham, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

See the Chapelries in Bispham Parish



Parish History
Bispham All Hallows is an Ancient Parish known as the Mother Church of Blackpool.

The church is a Grade II Listed Building. It is the third church on the site and was built in 1883.

Until 1821 the parish church of Bispham was the only place of worship in Blackpool.

Other places in the parish include: Bispham with Norbeck, Southshore, Layton with Warbrick, Norbreck.

The earliest reference to the church dates from the reign of Richard I of England, when Theobold Walter passed on his rights to the churches of Poulton-le-Fylde and Bispham to St Mary’s of Lancaster. Another reference in 1345, from the records of the Archdiocese of Richmond, tells of the lamentable state of disrepair of both the church of Poulton and the chapel of Bispham, implying that Bispham was a chapel annexed to the parish of Poulton.

In 1351, in the aftermath of the Black Death, the Archdeacon made a visit to ascertain whether the chapel had sufficient parishioners to make it viable as a place of worship, and also enquired of St Mary’s of Lancaster by what right they held the claim to Bispham. The Archdeacon was evidently persuaded not to sell off the chapelery and its lands.

The first mention of Blackpool is found in the Register of Bispham Parish Church in 1602 in which is recorded the Christinary on 22 September of that year of a child belonging to a couple who reside on the bank of the Black Pool.

Eighteenth century records show that there existed a church of red sandstone, with a double-gable roof, supported by oaken pillars, laid down in the centre of the nave. There was a separate chancel, black oak pews in the nave, with three lancet windows in the East end and a low tower at the West.

In 1773, the pillars were deemed unsafe and removed and the building heightened, but by the middle of the nineteenth century, the church was in danger of collapse, and in 1883 had to be demolished. A new church of limestone was built on the same site The churchyard contains the tombs of many shipwreck victims, including the captain and crew of the brig Favourite, which sank off Blackpool in 1865, and passengers from the Ocean Monarch, which caught fire in the Irish Sea in 1848. Also commemorated in the churchyard is the actress Violet Carson, who lived in Bispham and who died in 1983 and gained fame between 1960 and 1980 for her portrayal of Ena Sharples in television soap opera Coronation Street.

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

"BISPHAM, a parish, in the union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster; comprising the townships of Bispham with Norbreck, and Layton with Warbreck; and containing 2339 inhabitants, of whom 371 are in Bispham with Norbreck, 3 miles (W. N. W.) from Poulton. This place, which is of great antiquity, is styled in Domesday survey Biscopham. It was early a possession of the Boteler family; and in the 13th of Elizabeth, the manors of "Litle and Grete" Bispham were held by the Fleetwoods. The parish includes the chapelry and bathingplace of Blackpool, and a part of South-Shore. The sea forms its western boundary, and the parish of Poulton incloses it on the north, south, and east. It comprises about 4200 acres, whereof 1606a. 3r. 20p. are in Bispham township; of the latter number 619 acres are arable, 271 meadow, 675 pasture, and 40 acres homesteads, sites, and water. Two small rills irrigate the soil; namely, Blackpool brook, so called, perhaps, from the tinge which it receives from its source in Marton moss; and Bispham brook, which, after a short course, falls into the Wyre at Thornton. The growth of wood here, is checked by the vicinity of the sea, and even the hedges which are planted from time to time are stunted by the blighting influence of the saline atmosphere. Bispham Lodge is the seat and property of Frederick Kemp, Esq. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £210; patron, the Rev. Charles Hesketh; impropriators, B. Crosse, Esq., and Messrs. Bence and Bacon. The church was granted to the nunnery of Sion at the dissolution of alien priories, and remained attached to that establishment till the Reformation: its date and dedication are unknown. About eighty years ago, the building was partially modernised, and other alterations have been since made; it is situated in the hamlet of Great Bispham, and its whitened tower is seen at a considerable distance. At both Great and Little Bispham are places of worship for Independents; and there are distinct Church incumbencies at Blackpool and SouthShore. In 1659, Richard Higginson, of London, founded a school here, which he endowed with a rent-charge of £30; the income, by subsequent benefactions, has been increased to £70 per annum."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 267-270. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50804 Date accessed: 25 June 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
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http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Fylde 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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