Coppull, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Coppull is a village and civil parish in Lancashire, England. It is part of the borough of Chorley, lies around 300 feet (91 m) above sea level and has a population of around 7,600. It is bounded by Whittle Brook, Clancutt Brook, the River Yarrow, Eller Brook, Hic-Bibi Brook and Stars Brook. Coppull is located between Chorley and Standish, Greater Manchester, to the east of the A49 road near Charnock Richard.

Coppull was archaically known as Cophulle, Crophull or Crophill, meaning "a cropped hill" or a "hill rising to a peak”.

Coppull became an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1717 from chapelry in Standish Ancient Parish.Other places in the parish include: Welsh Whittle and Charnock Richard.

The present church with no dedication in Chapel Lane was rebuilt in 1861.

The first mention of Coppull came in 1215 as Coppull of Worthington. By 1830 Coppull was a rather unimportant agricultural area of a few cottages, houses and farms, and a small chapel to the east.

After 1850 Coppull grew rapidly, many new rows of houses were built to house coal miners and factory workers. There were many collieries and deep shafts were sunk for the John Pit, Springfield Pit, Blainscough, Hic Bibi, Darlingtons, Ellerbeck, Birkacre and Pearsons mines. Mineral lines carried coal tubs to the main railway. Brickworks at Hic Bibi, Coppull Moor and off Mike Lane used Coppull clay for this industrial boom.

COPPULL, a township, and an ecclesiastical district, in the parish of Standish, union of Chorley, hundred of Leyland, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 4 miles (S. S. W.) from Chorley; the township containing 1031 inhabitants. Richard Fitz-Thomas, lord of Coppull, before the general use of dates in charters, gave to the priory of Burscough a part of his land, and "pannage in the woods of Coppull, with common of pasture, and all the easements and liberties appertaining to the town of Coppull." In the 5th of Charles I., Edward Rigbye held the manor, which was subsequently sold to the Hodgson family. The township was originally skirted by a copse, and hence, probably, derived its name; it is of level surface, and commands fine views of the Rivington hills. There is an extensive coal-mine, also some print-works; see Birkacre. One of the stations of the North-Union railway is situated here. The ecclesiastical district includes the townships of Charnock-Richard and Welsh-Whittle: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £120; patron, the Rector of Standish. The church was built in 1657, rebuilt and enlarged in 1758, and repaired in 1840. The tithes of Coppull have been commuted for £261. 12. 6. A national school was built in 1847.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 682-685. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50895 Date accessed: 29 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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Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Poor Law Unions
Chorley 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
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