Stretford St Matthew, Lancashire Genealogy

Guide to Stretford St Matthew, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: chapelry register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Chapel History
Stretford [St Matthew] was an ancient chapel of ease and lay within the boundaries of Manchester Our Lady, St George and St Denys, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

It was founded before 1413. In early medieval days the de Trafford family built a small chapel for their own tenantry and it is known that a chantry existed there in 1413. In 1718 Stretford Chapel was rebuilt on the site of its predecessor. It was furnished with a barrel-organ to provide music for the services even though it was "deficient of notes"; the instrument was augmented by minstrels playing Basvoyle and Oby (Oboe).

The third Stretford church, St. Matthew's was built on a new and larger site given by Sir Thomas de Trafford in 1841. The church was enlarged in 1863 and the chancel added in 1906.

STRETFORD, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Manchester, union of Chorlton, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 4 miles (S. W.) from Manchester.

Historically a part of Lancashire, during much of the 19th century Stretford was an agricultural village known locally as Porkhampton, a reference to the large number of pigs produced for the nearby Manchester market. It was also an extensive market gardening area, producing over 500 long tons (508 t) of vegetables each week for sale in Manchester by 1845. The arrival of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 and the subsequent development of the Trafford Park Industrial Estate in the north of the town, accelerated the industrialisation which had begun in the late 19th century. By 2001, less than 1% of Stretford's population was employed in agriculture.

Stretford has been the home of Manchester United Football Club since 1910, and of the Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1864. Notable residents have included the industrialist, philanthropist, and Manchester's first multi-millionaire John Rylands, the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, the painter L. S. Lowry, Morrissey of the Smiths and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai.

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Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day.
 * See England Civil Registration for online resources and information.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD


 * Chorlton 1837-1849
 * Barton-on -Irwell 1850-1934
 * Barton 1935-1974
 * Trafford 1974-present

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Chapelry is a church or churches built in a large ecclesiastical parish to help the members attend worship services closer to their homes.

Online Parish Records Table

Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Lancashire ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Lancashire ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * OnLine Parish Clerks - Lancashire - OnLine Parish Clerks project for Lancashire

Non-Conformist Churches (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Poor Law Unions
Chorlton 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.

Taxation

 * 1541 - 1541 Subsidy of Stretforde (p. 141)


 * 1622 - 1622 Subsidy of Stretford (p. 151)

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

Websites
Official parish website