Little Lever, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
LEVER, LITTLE, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Bolton, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 3¼ miles (E. S. E.) from Bolton; containing 2580 inhabitants. This place was comprehended in the extensive barony of Manchester. Albert Gredle, styled Juvenis, gave to Alexander FitzOmoch lands in "Parva Lofre," which were held by his heirs in the reign of John. Little Lever Hall, a wood and plaster building, destroyed about 75 years ago, was a seat of the Lever family in 1567; recently the Andrews family, of Rivington, became possessed of the Lever estate in the township. The Heywoods, of whom was Oliver Heywood, the celebrated nonconformist divine, were long resident here. Little Lever comprises 1020 acres, mostly pasture; the soil is of a clayey quality, and wet, and the scenery varied by dells and dingles. The population is chiefly employed in four cotton-mills, in two paper-mills, some bleach-works, terra-cotta works, a rope-walk, and in numerous collieries. The Bolton and Manchester canal passes through. The living is a perpetual curacy; patron, the Vicar of Bolton; net income, £150, with a house. The chapel was built in 1790, and is dedicated to St. Matthew. There are, a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a national school, rebuilt in the Norman style in 1845.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 74-78. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51105 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.

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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