Baddiley, Cheshire Genealogy

History
St Michael's Church, Baddiley is an Ancient Parish and is a rare example of a timber-framed church. The chancel dates from 1308, and is one of the oldest timber-framed churches in Europe. Only a handful of churches of this type remain in England; other surviving examples include churches at Lower Peover and Marton (Cheshire), Melverley (Shropshire), Besford (Worcestershire) and Hartley Wespall (Hampshire).

Baddiley is listed in the Domesday Book as Bedelie, and the manor then belonged to the Praers family. The ancient manor was more extensive than the modern parish, also including Faddiley, which lies to the north west. In the first half of the 13th century, part of the Baddiley parish was granted to Combermere Abbey, a Cistercian monastery which had been endowed on its foundation in 1133 with a large area of land to the south; in 1355, the abbey also acquired the right to appoint the priest of the Baddiley church in exchange for land at Baddiley Grange. (Baddiley is not, however, included among the lands surrendered to the government when the abbey was dissolved in 1538.) By the 14th century, the manor had passed by marriage to the Bromley, Hondford and Mainwaring families, finally passing solely to the Mainwarings who occupied Baddiley Hall.

Baddiley Hall, is an L-shaped three-storey building in brown brick dating from the late 17th century. Formerly the manor house of the Mainwaring family, it has been a farmhouse since the 19th century.

Church Records
Parish registers, 1579-1991 Cheshire Record Office call number: P173/1/1-2, P173/2/1-3, P173/4592/1-4.

An index for Cheshire parish registers is available online in Record Search

Bishop's transcripts for Baddiley, 1596-1905 Cheshire Record Office call number.: EDB 15.

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s Transcripts is available online in Record Search

Non-Conformist Churches
Baddiley, Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Baddiley and Ravensmoor Methodist Church, formerly a Wesleyan Chapel, located in Ravensmoor. Dated 1878, the building is in orange brick with stone dressing and has a prominent circular window and pillars capped with decorative stonework.

Non-Conformist Records
Baddiley and Ravensmoor is part of the Audlem Circuit.

Poor Law Unions

 * Nantwich

Registration Districts

 * Nantwich (1837–1937)
 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton &amp; Crewe (1974–1988)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire Central ( post 1998)