Comprehensive List of Liverpool Parishes and Chapelries

Return to the Liverpool St Peter and St Nicholas page.

Liverpool St Peter and St Nicholas was originally created a chapel of ease in the parish of Walton until 1698, when it was constituted by act of Parliament, a distinct parish.

Liverpool from the mid-18th century, became one of the largest township (population-wise) centres in the whole of England; by 1851, it was almost as populated as Greater London with over 2 million inhabitants. Ecclesiastically, and for research purposes, it's important to note it is comprised of a single ancient parish but with numerous chapelries and district chapels attached to it.

During the height of the Industrial Revolution, these numerous smaller churches called chapelries or chapels of ease and district chapels which lay within the boundaries of the ancient parish were created to handle Liverpool St Nicholas' expanding parish population. These chapelries--some of which are of ancient origin. Each kept registers of baptisms, usually some burials and in only a few cases, marriages.

Below is a comprehensive list of all the chapelries associated with the ancient parish of St Nicholas and Peter Liverpool as of 1851. By far the vast majority of the church registers (of which many are now being transcribed and posted online) for Liverpool Central Archives; a few may be available at the Lancashire Record Office in Preston. These are also almost all microfilmed and available at and its 4,600 satellite Family History Centers worldwide.

Recognizing that all authoritative treatises on Lancashire civil parishes differ--some much more than others--in their data regarding all Liverpool [ecclesiastical] districts and townships with chapelries, it is therefore of necessity that several key reference publications and resources have been consulted to compile the following Comprehensive List of Liverpool Parishes and all its associated chapelries:


 * Liverpool, All Saints Grosvenor - 1798 (closed in 1845)
 * Liverpool, Blessed Virgin Mary
 * Liverpool, Mariner's Church - 1827
 * (a.k.a. Bevington Church)
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool, Mariner's Church - 1827
 * (a.k.a. Bevington Church)
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836
 * Liverpool St John the Evangelist - 1836

Also part of the civil parish of Liverpool are the following district chapelries which formed the southern suburb of and also within the boundaries of Liverpool St Peter and St Nicholas:


 * Toxteth Park St Matthew - 1848 (chapelry registers are only available at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston)
 * Toxteth Park St Thomas-in-the-Fields - 1840 (chapelry registers are only available at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston)
 * (extra parochial)
 * Toxteth Park St Matthew - 1848 (chapelry registers are only available at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston)
 * Toxteth Park St Thomas-in-the-Fields - 1840 (chapelry registers are only available at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston)
 * (extra parochial)
 * (extra parochial)

Due to its close proximity, see also Walton-on-the-Hill Parish and its chapelries, i.e. Everton.

Liverpool also had in-ordinately large Irish population, many of which were Roman Catholic. By 1831, Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of England (published 1831) identified that there were at least five Roman Catholic parishes lying within its boundaries. However, on further study, here is a list all those known Roman Catholic churches within the boundaries of the city--including ten (10) of them; the Family History Library has a few of them (see hyper-links below); there were, prior to 1900, nearly 40 Catholic parishes within Liverpool proper:


 * - 1807
 * St Anne
 * St Ethelburga - 1843
 * St Nicholas - 1813 (some burials)
 * - 1804 (see also St Anthony's website for some data online)
 * St Peter – 1788
 * St Mary, Woolton – 1707 (see their website, with soon-to-be-posted data online
 * - 1758
 * - 1827
 * St Joseph - 1798

Here are related links to Roman Catholics living in the City of Liverpool area:


 * Liverpool Roman Catholic Marriages (64,000) databse online between 1800-1900, with most after 1850
 * Liverpool Roman Catholic Baptisms (nearly 115,000) online (eventually over 500,000 entries will be available)
 * Liverpool Roman Catholic Burials (1856-1865) - about 35,000 entries

Helpful Links: 

Some of Liverpool's Nonconformist church registers, as well as many Church of England chapelry registers have also been indexed and posted online at the outstanding Lancashire "Online Parish Clerk" project.

Website, "A Church Near You" provides some information on some chapelries and parishes: www.achurchnearyou.com

Website: "Genuki" gives a list of parishes and many of their chapelries, and also some considerable detail about each, and in particular, the year when each church's history begins: www.genuki.org.uk

Bibliography:

Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, by Youngs, Frederic A. Pub: The Royal Historical Society, London 1991

Topographical Dictionary of England. Lewis Samuel. Pub: Samuel A. Lewis &amp; Co. London 1841 &amp;1831

''A Comprehensive Gazetteer of England. ''Bell, James. A. Pub.: Fullarton &amp; Co. Glasgow 1836

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. A. Fullarton &amp;amp; Co. Glasgow and London ca. 1869 (see also VisionOfBritain.org.uk)

''Atlas &amp; Index to Parish Registers. ''Edited by Cecil Humphrey-Smith. Pub by  Phillimore &amp; Co. Ltd.Chichester, Sussex. 2003.

Lancashire Record Office website: see "Church Registers"

Liverpool Central Library website: search the terms--"baptisms", "marriages" or "burials", or, name of the chapel or church--if known.