Tockholes, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Tockholes St Stephen is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1725 from chapelry in Blackburn St Mary, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

Other places in the parish include: Livesey.

In 1833 a large pit was discovered in Tockholes located in a field with the official title of "Pit Field", this field had previously been known locally as "Kill Field". In the pit was found the remains of some forty horses along with Cannon balls, Clubs and Large Buttons. At sometime during the Civil War either during the course of the Earl of Derby's movements between Preston, Bolton, and Blackburn in 1643, or during 1644 with the passage of Prince Rupert's army severe fighting took place about the lower part of Tockholes, in the vicinity of the church and then on to Cartridge-hill and Hollinshead Hall. Several cannon-balls have been picked up in other parts Tockholes, One was found in a field just above the Bethesda Chapel and another was found on Cartridge-hill, a lofty fell a mile or so further to the south above Hollinshead Hall. Musket bullets have also been found in a field behind the Old Independent Chapel only a short distance from the “Kill Filed” Pit. The artefacts recovered in Tockholes seem to indicate a severe battle in which troops, horses and musketeers were engaged and in which at least one piece of ordnance was brought into use by one side or the other. A battle whereby at least forty horses are killed does must have been quite a fierce one for such a small village. As the pit was found so close to the old Church of Tockholes, It is supposed that the bodies of the soldiers killed in the Battle would have be removed and buried in consecrated ground, Their weapons and items of Value being claimed by the prevailing side.

TOCKHOLES, a township and chapelry, in the parish, union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Blackburn, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 3¾ miles (S. S. W.) from Blackburn; the township containing 1023 inhabitants. In the 14th of Henry VII. Sir Alexander Hoghton held lands here, and in the 17th of Charles I. Nicholas Wittone died seised of lands and messuages called " Green Tockholes in Livesey;" the family of Holinshed more recently held the lordship, and on the margin of a moor stands an old farmhouse called Holinshed Hall. Tockholes is a scattered tract, watered by the river Roddlesworth, or Moulder Water, and its branches issuing from the adjacent hills. It comprises 1926a. 3r. 13p., of mountainous surface, chiefly meadow and pasture: there are several coal-mines, which are partially worked; and sandstone of good quality is quarried for building purposes. Most of the inhabitants are employed in the hand-loom weaving of cotton, and in a cotton-factory. The chapelry hitherto consisted of Tockholes and Livesey; but by a recent order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it now consists of the township of Tockholes, and parts of the townships of Livesey and Lower Darwen. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Blackburn; net income, £150. The old chapel was dedicated to St. Michael: the present edifice is dedicated to St. Stephen; it was built in 1833, at an expense of £2567, and is in the early English style. The Independents have a place of worship. Cannon-balls have been found at various times; a twelve-pounder was discovered in the garden of the parsonage, and on clearing out an old pond in 1833, skeletons of 48 horses were found, from which it would appear that an action took place here, most probably between the royalists and parliamentarians.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 366-369. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51347 Date accessed: 31 July 2010.

The modern church of St Stphen was built in the 1960's including the arch of an 1833 rebuilding of the older church.

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
Blackburn Poor Law 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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