Brindle, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Parish History
Brindle St James is an Ancient Parish in the county of Lancashire.

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.

BRINDLE (St. James), a parish, in the union of Chorley, hundred of Leyland, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 4¾ miles (N. by E.) from Chorley; containing 1401 inhabitants. This place appears to have been granted, by the superior tenant of the crown, soon after the Conquest, to a family who were designated from their possessions. The manor passed by the marriage of the heiress of "Sir Peter de Bryn, of Brynhill," to the Gerards, with whom it continued till the reign of Henry VIII., when Sir William Cavendish is found patron of the living, though the manor did not come into the possession of the Cavendish family until the middle of last century. The parish is elevated land, and comprises 2900 acres, of which the soil is clay and sand; about one-third is arable, and the rest pasture, garden-ground, and waste: the river Lostock passes at the south-western extremity, where it receives a nameless brook, whose slender stream flows near the village. There are two valuable stone-quarries in the parish; one at Duxon Hill, producing large millstones, which are frequently exported to Ireland; and the other at Denham Hill, where good ashlar is obtained in abundance. Chemical works, established in 1830, by Mr. Thomas Coupe, employ 30 hands; and here are also some print-works. The Blackburn and Preston railway runs through, and the Leeds and Liverpool canal skirts, the parish. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £12. 8. 4., and in the patronage of the Duke of Devonshire: the tithes have been commuted for £500; and there are more than 11 acres of glebe, with a glebe-house and other buildings. The church is in the early English style, with a square tower; the body of the edifice was rebuilt in 1817: in the churchyard is a stone coffin, and in the parsonage, an ancient font. The Roman Catholic chapel here, is dedicated to St. Joseph, and is the property of the Benedictines; it was built in 1786, and is a neat structure, situated in a vale. A free school, supposed to have been founded by Peter Burscough, has funds consisting of about £335, lent on interest, producing £16. 16. per annum; and near the Roman Catholic chapel is a school which was erected by Mr. Joseph Knight, of Chelsea, a native of the parish, with a house for the master and mistress, who receive £25 per annum.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 375-379. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50830 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
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

Census records
Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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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