Prestwich St. Margaret's, Holyrood, Lancashire Genealogy

History
St. Margaret's Church, Holyrood, Prestwich, is a Parish Church founded in 1851, designed by the architects Travis and Mangnall. The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1849. Until 1885, it was a Chapel-of-Ease to the ancient Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Prestwich, but in that year it became a Parish Church in its own right. The first two burials in the Churchyard were made in 1852. The sacrament of Holy Baptism was first administered on October 26 1851, the day the church opened. St. Margaret's Church was licensed for the Solemnisation of Holy Matrimony in 1875, several attempts to get it licensed previously having proved unsuccessful.

St. Margaret's Church is surrounded on the south and west side by the original Churchyard. (Parts of the Churchyard had been used when the church was extended several times during the ninteenth century.) Bounded on all sides, no extension of the Churchyard was possible. In 1909 land on the opposite side of St. Margaret's Road was purchased from the Rector of Prestwich and consecrated, becoming the 'New Churchyard'. Subsequently, this has been extended several times. Few burials now take place in the Old Churchyard. The west porch of the church was converted into a Columbarium in 1960 on the initiative of the Vicar, for the repose of the cremated remains of the Departed. In 1993 when the shortage of space became apparent, a Garden of Remembrance for remains was created near the west wall of St. Margaret's. During 2006, a new Garden of Remembrance for cremated remains is to be created on the east side of the New Churchyard.

On the north side of the Old Churchyard, close to St. Margaret's Road, is the vault of the Earls of Wilton, former owners of Heaton Park. It is the resting place of the bodies of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Earls. PRESTWICH, a small town, a township, and a sub-district, in Manchester district, and a parish partly alsoin Oldham and Bury districts, Lancashire. The town stands 1¼ mile E N E of the river Irwell, 1½ E by N of Clifton-Junction r. station, and 4 N N W of Manchester; contains numerous good residences; and has a post-office under Manchester, two churches, two Wesleyan chapels, a Jewish cemetery, a national school, a British school, a workhouse, the Lancashire lunatic asylum, and charities £164. St. Bartholomew's church is later English; consists of nave, aisles, two terminal chapels, and a chancel, with a tower 85 feet high; and contains a fine reredos erected in 1865, and several handsome monuments. St. Margaret's church was founded in 1848, by the Duchess of Cambridge. One of the Wesleyan chapels was built in 1867 The national school was built in 1866, at a cost of about £2,800; and is in the early English style, with high-pitched roof and brick tower. The lunatic asylum stands in the centre of extensive grounds; is a range of structures in brick, with stone facings; underwent enlargement about 1862; and has accommodation for about 1,000 patients. The workhouse is one of three for Manchester district; and, at the census of 1861, had 66 in-mates. The township comprises 1,906 acres. Real property, £21,725. Pop. in 1851, 4,096; in 1861, 5,288. Houses, 973. The sub-district contains also Great Heaton and Little Heaton townships, and comprises 3,281 acres. Pop. in 1851, 5,046; in 1861, 6,285. Houses, 1,168. The parish contains also the townships of Pilkington, Oldham, Chadderton, Tonge, Alkrington, Royton, and Crompton; and is ecclesiastically cut into the sections of Prestwich, Hollinwood, Ringley, Prestolee, Oldham, St. Mary, O., St. Peter, O., St. James, Chadderton, St. John, C., St. Matthew, Coldhurst, East Crompton, Glodwick, Werneth, Waterhead, Royton, Shaw, Unsworth, and Tonge-with-Alkrington. Acres, 21,625. Pop. in 1851, 94,470; in 1861, 117,961. Houses, 23,039. The living of Prestwich is a rectory united with the chapelry of St. Margaret, and all the other livings are p.curacies, in the diocese of Manchester. Value of the rectory, £1,230.* Patron, the Earl of Wilton. The other livings are noticed in the articles on their own several localities. John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

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 Free BMD.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

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 FamilySearch Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Parish registers for St. Margaret's, Holyrood, Prestwich, 1851-1918 Microfilm of original records at the Manchester Archives Central Library in Manchester, England. St. Margaret's, Holy Rood became a parish in 1885. Manchester Archives Central Library call nos.: L 120/1/1/1; L 120/1/2/1; L 120/1/3/1.

Prestwich- St Margaret Baptisms-1851-1897- MFPR 1610 or MFPR 2029 Burials-1852-1905- MFPR 1610 or MFPR 2029 Burials-1905-1914- MFPR 1610 or MFPR 2030 Marriages-1875-1918- MFPR 1610 or MFPR 2029

The Manchester Room and Greater Manchester County Record Office Email: archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk

The Manchester Room@City Library (Local Studies)

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 FamilySearch Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Prestwich 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.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place. England Jurisdictions 1851

Websites
Add any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.

http://www.achurchnearyou.com/prestwich-st-margaret/ for information about the parish