Over Kellet, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Over Kellet St Cuthbert was created a chapel of ease by 1682 from, and lying within the boundaries of Bolton le Sands, Lancashire Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Capernwray.

The parish, which is in the City of Lancaster, includes the village of Capernwray, at its northern end and the Lancaster Canal passes through the parish.

The village was referred to as Chellet in the the Domesday Book, and more recently has also been known as Lesser Kellet. It is approximately 1 mile ( east of Carnforth, and 0.6 miles east of junction 35 of the M6 motorway.

The parish church is St Cuthbert's, which has existed since 1215. The current building a Grade II listed building, mostly built in the 16th century. It was restored in 1864, and is now a joint Anglican/Methodist church.

"KELLET, OVER, a chapelry, in the parish of Bolton-le-Sands, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 6¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Lancaster, to the right of the road to Kendal; containing 508 inhabitants. This is the Chellet of the Domesday survey, and was early a possession of a family named Kellet, whose heiress married Sir Thurstan de Holland. At the erection of the duchy of Lancaster, the manor was held in moieties by Roger de Crofte and Ranulph de Dacres; the Otways, and subsequently the Martons, became proprietors, the latter by purchase in the beginning of the last century. The chapelry comprises about 850 acres, whereof two-thirds are arable, and the remainder meadow, with some small plantations; the surface is mountainous, and commands extensive views, including Morecombe bay and the Furness and Lake districts. Limestone of excellent quality abounds, and there are also good freestone and gritstone. Fairs for cattle are held on May-day and Michaelmas-day. The Lancaster canal runs through, and the Carnforth station on the Lancaster and Carlisle railway is not more than two miles distant. Swarthdale House, here, is the seat of James Clarke, Esq., son of the late venerable recorder of Liverpool. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of John Walmsley, Esq., of Richmond House, Lancaster; net income, £170, with a house. The chapel, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, stands in a quiet spot above the village: in the chapelyard are two small crosses, partly sunk beneath the soil, which are considered to prove the existence of the chapel anterior to the Reformation. A school was endowed in 1802, with an annuity of £11, by Thomas Wilson, and this endowment having been subsequently augmented, the income is now about £40 per annum."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 643-646. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51069 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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

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

Poor Law Unions
Caton Gilbert 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

Web sites
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