Woodchurch, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Cheshire Parishes  Woodchurch

[[Image:Holy Cross Church Woodchurch.jpg|thumb|right]]History
Woodchurch, Holy Cross (Church of England). An ancient parish church, originally serving the townships of Arrowe, Barnston, Claughton cum Grange (part), Irby (part), Landican, Noctorum, Oxton, Pensby, Prenton, Thingwall and Woodchurch.

A circular style graveyard suggests a pre-Norman date, possible Saxon or Romano-British.This early date is supported by the discovery of a portion of a 'Class D' Anglo-Saxon wheel cross recovered from the grounds of the church sometime during the late 19th or early 20th century and placed within the wall of the chancel within the church. The cross probably stood intact in the graveyard until the 17th century when many such crosses were destroyed by the Puritans it has been said. In the 14th century the south aisle, chancel and tower were added. The south aisle was rebuilt in the 16th century and a south porch was added. Heavy diagonal buttresses were added to the tower in 1675. The vestry was built in 1766. The north aisle by Hubert Worthington was added in 1964–65.

From the Ancient parish two later parishes were created:

Barnston, Christ Church (C of E). The parish church since 1880. Pensby, St. Michael and All Angels (C of E). Founded 1958 as a chapel to Barnston. Registers of Baptisms from 1958 and Marriages from 1964 are held at the church.

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.

Church records
To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Registers of Baptisms 1571–1945, Marriages 1571–1951 and Burials 1571–1913 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office Microreproduction of originals at the Cheshire Record Office in Chester, England. Includes some Latin Cheshire Record Office call number: P50/4765/1-3, 5-17, 20-22.

The Family History Library (FHL) has copies of the following records.

Bishop's transcripts for Woodchurch, 1581-1894. Record are not arranged in strict chronological order. Some intermittent years are missing. Cheshire Record Office number: EDB/226. The Family History Library has copies of the following records.

The above records can be searched online at Record Search The parish is also included in the online transcript collection Cheshire Parish Register project.

Nonconformist Records

 * Woodchurch, St. Michael &amp; All Angels (Roman Catholic). Founded 1952.
 * Woodchurch, Methodist Chapel. Founded 1957, Built in 1963.

Poor Law Unions

 * Wirral

Registration Districts

 * Wirral (1837–1974)
 * Birkenhead (1974–1998)
 * Wirral (post 1998)

Registration events may be searched online at Cheshire BMD