Daresbury, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
DARESBURY, is a chapelry, in the parish and union of Runcorn, hundred of Bucklow, N. division of the county of Chester; it is 5½ miles (N.E.) from Frodsham. The chapelry consists of the townships of Acton-Grange, Daresbury, Hatton, Kekewick, Moore, Newton-by-Daresbury, Preston-on-the-Hill, and Walton Superior. The chapel, is dedicated to All Saints, and is distant about three miles from the parish church; the parsonage is in Newtonby-Daresbury township.

Daresbury All Saints, an ancient chapelry in Runcorn Ancient Parish, included Acton Grange, Daresbury, Hatton, Keckwick, Moore, Newton by Daresbury, Preston on the Hill, Walton Inferior and Walton Superior. It became a parish in 1880.

It is best known because of its association with Lewis Carroll who is commemorated in its stained glass windows depicting characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.



In the 12th century a chapelry was founded on the site of the present church as a daughter house of Norton Priory. It was a chapel of ease within the parish of Runcorn. After the Reformation the patronage of the Runcorn parish passed into the hands of Christ Church, Oxford. It is likely that the stone tower was built shortly after this time. Over the years there were frequent disputes between the worshippers at Daresbury and the mother church at Runcorn relating to financial matters.

The existing building other than the tower was erected between 1870 and 1872 by Paley and Austin in the Gothic revival style. During the restoration an old rood loft and screen were destroyed. Richards identified this as of "pure Welsh type" and its loss as "nothing short of a major calamity". Daresbury became a parish separate from Runcorn in February 1880. Families who have been associated with the church over the centuries are those of Greenall, Rylands, Chadwick, Heron, Milner, Houghton and Okell. The tower was restored in 1872 by Sir Gilbert Greenall.

Church records
Daresbury parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Cornwall Record Office.

Non-Conformist Churches
None

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 a nd death indexes available:


 * FreeBMD
 * Cheshire BMD

Registration Districts

 * Runcorn (1837–1974)
 * Halton (post1974)

Poor Law Unions

 * Runcorn Poor Law Union, Cheshire

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
Darsbury on GENUKI

Charles Dodgson
From 1827 to 1843 the priest in charge of Daresbury church was Charles Dodgson. In 1832 his third child and first son was born, named Charles Lutwidge, and better known later in life as Lewis Carroll. The vicarage was not then, as it is now, opposite the church but was some distance away in Newton-by-Daresbury near the junction of Morphany Lane and Higher Lane. The churchyard contains a 16th century font in which, amongst many others, Lewis Carroll was baptised

Lewis Carroll Interpretation Project
This project is to build a centre to provide information about Lewis Carroll's early years in Daresbury, and his later achievements. In June 2008 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £370,000 towards the project.

"Lewis Carroll Interpretation Project", Inside Halton (Halton Borough Council): 13, December 2008