Macclesfield Forest with Wildboarclough, Cheshire Genealogy

Parish History
St Stephen's Macclesfield Forest is an ancient chapelry in the Ancient parish of Prestbury. It included Tytherington, Upton, Wildboarclough, Kettleshulme, and Lyme Handley.

St Stephen's Church is also known locally as Forest Chapel. In pink sandstone with a stone and slate roof, the church dates originally from 1673; the chancel and nave were rebuilt in 1831. It is listed at grade II. St Stephen's still holds a rush-bearing ceremony every August, in which rushes are cut from nearby fields and marshes and strewn on the church floor and plaited into decorations as a symbol of renewal. The tradition ceased in most other churches in the 17th century.

Wildboarclough (pronounced Will'berclough) was a township and chapelry in Prestbury Parish, Macclesfield Hundred and Wildboarclough St Saviour, Cheshire was founded as a parish in 1873 from within St Stephen's parish.

Macclesfield Forest now forms part of Rainow parish, but still proudly retains its own local chapel. Forest Chapel (Church of St Stephen) in Macclesfield Forest was built in 1673, although the current building dates from 1834. The chapel is one of the few which maintains the tradition of an annual Rushbearing Ceremony which is held on the first Sunday after 12th August.

In Wildboarclough, the church of St Saviours is at the centre of one of the parishes in a benefice which also includes Wincle, Bosley and North Rode. The church was built in 1901 by the Earls of Derby.

There is also a Methodist chapel on the boundary of the parish at Gradbach (built in 1849).



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.

Registration Districts

 * Macclesfield (1837–98)
 * Cheshire East (post 1998) Registration events can be searched online at Cheshire BMD

Church Records
To find the names of the neighbouring 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.

Prestbury, St. Peter (C of E). The ancient parish church for Wildboarclough. Macclesfield Forest, St. Stephen (C of E). An ancient chapelry in Prestbury parish.

Wildboarclough, St. Saviour. Founded 1873 as a chapel to Macclesfield Forest, becoming a parish church in 1906. Registers of Baptisms from 1873, Marriages from 1912, and Burials from 1910 are held at the church. Parish registers date from 1737 earlier chapelry records for Macclesfield Forest with Wildboarclough are included:

Some entries read Macclesfield Forest with Wildboarclough. Macclesfield Forest and Wildboarclough are in the parish of Prestbury. Cheshire Record Office Call no.: P88/1-4, 2356/1. Here is a list of church records on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City.

Non-Conformist Churches

Census records
The 1611 Survey of the Manor and Forest of Macclesfieldwill provide a census substitute for the inhabitants. This website lists all those freeholders, copyholders and tenants living in the area at the time of the Survey.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Cheshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions

 * Macclesfield Poor Law Union,Cheshire

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