Musbury, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Musbury St Thomas was created a district chapelry in 1844 from, and lying within the boundaries of Bury St Mary, Lancashire Ancient Parish, and partly in the townships of Edenfield and Haslingden chapelries.

Other places in the parish include: Musbury Heights, Musden Head, and Musbury Park.

Here is an 1848 historical perspective on this chapelry:

"MUSBURY, an ecclesiastical district, in the parishes of Bury and Whalley, union of Haslingden, Higher division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire, 3 miles (S. W.) from Haslingden; containing 3000 inhabitants, of whom about one-half are in the township of Musbury. From the act of resumption of the crown possessions, passed in the 1st of Henry VII., it appears that a patent office, then existing, of "park-keeper of Musbury," was held by Laurens Maderer, and that his rights and privileges were secured by the act, as were those of various other official persons connected with the county. The ecclesiastical district was constituted in Sept. 1844, under the provisions of the act of 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37; its extent is about three miles by two miles, the township of Musbury forming more than half of it. The surface is very uneven; the land chiefly pasture and meadow, being rather unsuitable for growing corn; and the scenery highly picturesque: among the hills and dales flow four streams, sufficiently large to work a number of small manufactories. The Tor, a beautifully-formed hill standing apart from the rest, is 1100 feet above the level of the sea, and is seen at a considerable distance. A coal-mine is in operation; and excellent freestone is abundant, of which quarries have been opened in different places. The Ogden is the most considerable river within the district; the Irwell is the boundary on the north-east. The East Lancashire railway passes through. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester, alternately. W. Turner, Esq., a resident in the district, is about to erect a church at his own cost. The Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists have places of worship."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 359-362. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51164 Date accessed: 20 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

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

Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Haslingden, 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

Web sites
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53017 British History Online