Longton, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Longton was created a chapel of ease from, and lying within the boundaries of 1719 from chapelry in Penwortham, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

Longton is a village of ancient origin. The Parish Church, St. Andrew's was completed in 1887 when the previous chapel of 1772 which stood nearer the main road was demolished. This stood on the site of an earlier chapel, the records of which are lost.

Although a document refers to "Eafward Priest of Longton" as early as 1153, and there is evidence of a chapel in Longton just before the reformation in 1517,when William Walton endowed a chantry at the chapel, there is no evidence that it stood on or near the site of the present parish church. No archaeological evidence has ever been found on the current site, and the dedication of the early chapel is unknown.

During the middle ages, Longton was farmed by the monastic community of Penwortham Priory tended their lands here. It was no doubt the monks who established the first chapel here. Many mediaeval documents survive which are mostly concerning rents paid to the Shireburn Family of Stonyhurst. An old source mentions a meadow called "Tirolkar" which bears a remarkable resemblance to the "Hallcar" of today

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

"LONGTON, a chapelry, in the parish of Penwortham, union of Preston, hundred of Leyland, N. division of Lancashire, 5 miles (S. W. by W.) from Preston; containing 1719 inhabitants. This was one of the manors granted by Roger de Lacy, on obtaining the barony of Penwortham, to Robert, the brother of Hugh, last baron of the name of Bussel. In the 46th of Edward III., a portion of the manor belonged to the Lees, from whom it afterwards passed to the Flemings; and in the 9th of Henry IV., Sir Thomas Fleming gave to Henry de Bretherton and his heirs the whole lordship of Longton. The estate afterwards reverted to the Flemings, whose heiress, Elizabeth, in the reign of Henry VIII. married Thurstan Hall. The chapelry comprises 3132 acres, of which 146 are common or waste land; its length from east to west, is much greater than its breadth, and there is a long and considerable village, through which passes the road from Preston to Ormskirk: the Ribble flows on the west. Longton Hall, built in the 17th century, is now a farmhouse. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £148; patron, L. Rawstorne, Esq. The tithes have been commuted for £328 payable to the impropriator, and £8 to the curate of Penwortham. The chapel was in existence in 1650, and, having fallen into decay, was rebuilt in 1770, by a brief, dated in 1767, amounting to £1026. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. A free school was endowed in 1793, by Robert Moss, with a bequest of £400; it is further aided by the trustees of Hutton school: the present schoolroom was built by subscription in 1817."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 172-175. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51119 Date accessed: 19 July 2010.

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
Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Preston 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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