Portwood, Cheshire Genealogy

Guide to Portwood, Cheshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
There are two gazetteer entries with slightly different information:

PORTWOOD, is a chapelry in Stockport parish, Cheshire; on the River Mersey at the boundary with Lancashire and within Stockport borough. It was constituted in 1844; and its post town is Stockport. There is a small place of worship for Methodists.

Portwood is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Cheshire, created in 1844 from Stockport [St Mary] Ancient Parish.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Cheshire ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Cheshire ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Stockport has numerous churches and chapels. The principal faiths include:


 * Stockport, Our Lady and the Apostles (Roman Catholic), Edgeley Road. Founded 1799, rebuilt in 1905.
 * Stockport, St. Joseph (Roman Catholic), Tatton Street. Founded 1851, the present church was built in 1862. Registers of baptisms 1862–1912, marriages 1863–1934 and burials 1862–1905 are at the Cheshire Record Office.
 * Stockport, St. Michael (Roman Catholic). Registers of baptisms 1851–1895, marriages 1856–1882 and burials 1863–1866 are at the Cheshire Record Office.
 * Stockport, St. Ambrose (Roman Catholic), Adswood Road. Founded 1939.
 * Stockport, Friends' Meeting House (Quakers), Lower Hillgate. Built in 1705.
 * Stockport, United Reform Church (Hanover Chapel) (Independent/Congregational). Records of baptisms 1816–1961 are at the Cheshire Record Office.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from 1 July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. Here are two excellent Internet sites with birth, marriage and death indexes available:


 * FreeBMD
 * Cheshire BMD

Registration Districts

 * Stockport

Poor Law Unions

 * For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk


 * Stockport

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.

See also England Cheshire Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Websites
Portwood (see Brinnington) on GENUKI