A Comprehensive List of All Pre-1851 Manchester Parishes and Chapelries

Manchester is one of the largest township (population-wise) centres in the whole of England. The parish (the cathedral) is the largest parish in all England! It's comprised of the parish, that is, the Collegiate Cathedral and (by 1880) over 150 chapelries within its boundary!

During the height of the Industrial Revolution, numerous additional smaller churches called chapelries or chapels of ease, or district chapels (a district within an ancient parish but lying out in more remote areas within its boundary, and assigned to a chapel), or ecclesiastical parishes (but were not considered to be an ancient parish at first), within the Manchester City township-proper, all were created to handle Manchester's massive population growth during especially the era from about 1700 to 1900. These chapelries kept church registers of baptisms and burials (and in very rare cases, marriages during the era, 1754-1837), many of which are ancient in origin.

Below is a comprehensive list of all the chapelries associated with the Cathedral (parish) of Manchester Our Lady, St Denys and St George as of 1851. By far the vast majority of the church registers are now transcribed and available online at the following four key web sites:


 * Lancashire Online Parish Clerk project - an outstanding website for online transcriptions from hundreds of chapels and some parishes in the county; already nearly ten million entries published online at no cost.
 * FamilySearch about 20.5 million entries for baptisms, marriages and burials from 1538-1912
 * Ancestry.co.uk - has nearly 19.3 million published online entries from various parish and chapelry registers from 1538 to 1900
 * LancashireBMD - about 9.5 million-plus births, marriages and deaths for post-1837
 * Findmypast.co.uk - about 6.9 million entries for baptisms, marriages and burials from 1538-1900

Manchester original parish (and chapel) registers are held mostly at the Manchester Central Library. Most of these in recent years have been scanned and imaged (and also microfilmed and available at The FamilySearch Library and its 4,900 satellite FamilySearch Centers worldwide) with indexes and images now online at especially Ancestry.co.uk, and additionally at FamilySearch.org.

Manchester City Parish (Cathedral) and Its Ecclesiastical Parishes & Chapelries
Recognizing that all authoritative treatises on Manchester's ancient and civil parishes differ from one another regarding all of its [ecclesiastical] chapelries and townships, the following list has been compiled from several key reference publications and resources here to mitigate that problem, with the following comprehensive list of Greater Manchester ecclesiastical parishes within its township (proper) and all of its district chapelries (below).


 * Manchester St Andrew 1831 (see Ancoats St Andrews)
 * Manchester St Barnabas Oldham Rd - 1842
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Barnabas Oldham Rd - 1842
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")



The district chapelries listed below also subdivided Manchester Cathedral's huge boundary (the ancient parish) and were all considered to be in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Parish of Manchester:


 * Ancoats Christ Church - 1824 (became Bible Christian)
 * Ancoats St James - 1867
 * Ancoats St Peter - 1860
 * Ancoats St Martin - 1865
 * Beswick Christ Church - see Bradford Christ Church - 1862
 * (also known as Birch-in-Rusholme)
 * Blackley St Andrews - 1866
 * Blackley St Peter - 1655
 * - 1862
 * Broughton-cum-Kersal - 1839
 * Burials online - 1850-present
 * Campfield St Matthew - see Manchester St Matthew
 * Chorlton-upon-Medlock St Matthias -
 * Denton St George, Danebank - 1841
 * Droylsden St Mary - 1848
 * Failsworth Woodhouses Church, Ashton Rd - 1871
 * - known also as Heaton Chapel
 * (burials only; write the Lancashire Record Office for searching additional years and events)
 * Kersall Moor St Paul - 1852
 * Levenshulme St Peter - 1854
 * Longsight St John - 1846
 * (sometimes referred to as "Newton-Heath"; see also Birch in Rusholme)
 * - see also Newton Heath All Saints
 * Pendlebury St John the Evangelist - 1842
 * Pendleton St George -
 * Pendleton St Paul - see Paddington St Paul
 * Pendleton St James - by 1860
 * Pendleton St Ann - see St Anne's Brindle Heath
 * Pendleton St Luke - by 1865
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Denton St George, Danebank - 1841
 * Droylsden St Mary - 1848
 * Failsworth Woodhouses Church, Ashton Rd - 1871
 * - known also as Heaton Chapel
 * (burials only; write the Lancashire Record Office for searching additional years and events)
 * Kersall Moor St Paul - 1852
 * Levenshulme St Peter - 1854
 * Longsight St John - 1846
 * (sometimes referred to as "Newton-Heath"; see also Birch in Rusholme)
 * - see also Newton Heath All Saints
 * Pendlebury St John the Evangelist - 1842
 * Pendleton St George -
 * Pendleton St Paul - see Paddington St Paul
 * Pendleton St James - by 1860
 * Pendleton St Ann - see St Anne's Brindle Heath
 * Pendleton St Luke - by 1865
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Kersall Moor St Paul - 1852
 * Levenshulme St Peter - 1854
 * Longsight St John - 1846
 * (sometimes referred to as "Newton-Heath"; see also Birch in Rusholme)
 * - see also Newton Heath All Saints
 * Pendlebury St John the Evangelist - 1842
 * Pendleton St George -
 * Pendleton St Paul - see Paddington St Paul
 * Pendleton St James - by 1860
 * Pendleton St Ann - see St Anne's Brindle Heath
 * Pendleton St Luke - by 1865
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * - see also Newton Heath All Saints
 * Pendlebury St John the Evangelist - 1842
 * Pendleton St George -
 * Pendleton St Paul - see Paddington St Paul
 * Pendleton St James - by 1860
 * Pendleton St Ann - see St Anne's Brindle Heath
 * Pendleton St Luke - by 1865
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849

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For finding additional chapelries and district churches built after 1851, we strongly recommend the following online reference aids and sites:


 * Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. John M. Wilson London [1870] - one of the best aids for identifying chapelries or district churches from 1851 to about 1868, and the civil [and ecclesiastical] parish to which they were attached.
 * Lancashire Record Office website: click on "Church Registers" - search under name of ancient parish to find the names of all associated or attached chapels of ease or district church names.
 * Cassell's Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland. London: 1900 - Somewhat helpful aid; this published work does not always] provide--from an ancient parish perspective--the names of each chapelry and township chapels and district churches for each ancient parish in Lancashire.] and when commissioned or built; it is rife many omitted ones.

Helpful Links:

Some of the chapelries of Manchester and their ;christening, marriage and burial registers have also been indexed and posted online at the Lancashire "Online Parish Clerk" project.

The website, "A Church Near You" provides some information on some chapelries (and parishes): www.achurchnearyou.com

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 Co. London 1841 1831

A Comprehensive Gazetteer of England. Bell, James. A. Pub.: Fullarton Co. Glasgow 1836

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. A. Fullarton Co. Glasgow and London ca. 1869

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