Wavertree Holy Trinity, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Wavertree Holy Trinity was created a chapelry by 1794 from, and lying within the boundaries of Childwall, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

The name derives from the Old English words wæfre and treow, meaning "wavering tree", possibly in reference to aspen trees common locally. It has also been variously described as "a clearing in a wood" or "the place by the common pond". In the past the name has been spelt Watry, Wartre, Waurtree, Wavertre and Wavertree. The earliest settlement of Wavertree is attested to by the discovery of Bronze Age burial urns in Victoria Park in the mid 1880s. The Domesday Book reference is "Leving held Wauretreu. There are 2 carucates of land. It was worth 64 pence".

Wavertree was part of the parish of Childwall in the West Derby hundred.

Wavertree also boasts a village lock-up, commonly known as The Roundhouse, despite being octagonal in shape. Built in 1796, and later modified by prominent local resident and architect Sir James Picton, it was once used to detain local drunks. The lock-up was made a listed building in 1952. A similar structure, known as Prince Rupert's Tower, survives in Everton. The village green, on which Wavertree's lock-up was built, is officially the only surviving piece of common land in Liverpool.

Holy Trinity Church was built in 1794 and is situated on Church Road close to the famous Blue Coat School and the church was described by the late Sir John Betjeman as "Liverpool's best Georgian church".

"WAVERTREE, a township with a chapel, in the parish of Childwall, union and hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 2½ miles east by south of Liverpool. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built in 1793. Another church, dedicated to St. Mary, was erected in Sandown-park in 1848-9."

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

Poor Law Unions
West Derby, Lancashire 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
 * Vision of Britain