Hoole, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Parish History
HOOLE (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Preston, hundred of Leyland, N. division of Lancashire; containing 989 inhabitants, of whom 785 are in the township of Much Hoole, 8 miles (S. W.), and 204 in that of Little Hoole, 7 miles (S. W. by W.), from Preston. This place, which was separated from Croston by act of parliament in 1642, and made a distinct parish, lies on the road from Preston to Ormskirk and Liverpool, and is bounded on the west by the river Douglas or Astland. It comprises 2851 acres, whereof 1701 are in Much, and 1150 in Little, Hoole; three-fourths of the land are in pasture, and of the whole area 115 acres are common or waste. The soil is partly a marly loam, alternated with peat moss and marsh, and the surface is generally level. Hoole gave name to a family as early as the reign of John. Much Hoole was anciently held by the Montebegons; and the families of Viler, Butler, Walton, Leigh, Banister, and Hesketh, and Sir Thomas Barton and others, succeeded: in more recent times have been the Crooks, Claytons, and Bartons. The estates are now much divided: among the principal proprietors are, Sir Thomas G. Hesketh, Bart., and G. A. Legh Keck, Esq. The whole of Little Hoole, which is on the southern bank of the Ribble, adjoining the parish of Penwortham, is the property of Rice George Fellowe, Esq., of Edmonton, in Middlesex, lord of the manor. This manor was anciently granted by Roger de Montebegon to the priory of Thetford. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 14.; patron and incumbent, the Rev. Miles Barton, whose family in the last century purchased, with the advowson, a considerable portion of the estates of the township of Much Hoole: he resides in the manor-house of Little Hoole. The tithes have been commuted for £280. The church is a plain edifice of brick, built in 1628, having a tower of stone, rebuilt in 1720. There are, a Methodist place of worship, built in 1824; and a Primitive one, built in 1828. A school, erected in 1774, is endowed with land producing about £16 per annum, and is further supported by the rector. Jeremiah Horrox, the distinguished astronomer, who was the first to observe the transit of Venus over the sun's disc (November 24th, 1639), resided with his parents at Much Hoole, previously to entering Emmanuel College, Cambridge; and made his observations in the township. A marble tablet is erected to his memory in St. Michael's church, Toxteth, recording his death in 1641, at the age of 22.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 542-545. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51042 Date accessed: 01 July 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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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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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