Lancaster St Thomas, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapel History
Lancaster St Thomas was created a district church or chapel in 1844 from, and lying within the boundaries of Lancaster St Mary, Lancashire ancient parish.

St Thomas' was built between 1840 and 1841 to a design by the local architect Edmund Sharpe. In 1852–53 Sharpe's successor, E. G. Paley added the northeast steeple and the chancel in a similar architectural style.

The modern parish is in the deanery of Lancaster, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is a Grade II listed building.

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

St. Thomas's district church was consecrated on the 14th June, 1841. Its style is early English, and it forms a good specimen of Mr. Edmund Sharpe's acknowledged skill, for, though devoid of ornament, its proportions are symmetrical, and its appearance both within and without strikingly elegant; the edifice is of beautiful white freestone obtained in the neighbourhood, and the cost of its erection was about £3000.

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. Here are two major Internet sites with name lists or indexes:


 * 1) FreeBMD. - over 250 million births, marriages and death entries
 * 2) Lancashire BMD - Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths

Online Records
 Church of England 

Lancaster St Thomas chapelry's registers of christenings, marriages and burials, along with those of the ancient parish of Lancaster St Mary to which it is attached, have been mostly transcribed and are displayed online at the following web sites and ranges of years:

For a full list of all those chapels surrounding Lancaster St Thomas and comprising the whole ancient parish of Lancaster St Mary to which it was attached, be certain to see "Church Records" on the LANCASTER ST MARY PARISH page.

Poor Law Unions
Lancaster 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.

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