Farnworth, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
FARNWORTH, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Prescot, hundred of West Derby, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 5¾ miles (W.) from Warrington; comprising the townships of Bold, Cronton, Ditton, and Widness, which are in the union of Prescot, and contain 3836 inhabitants; and the townships of Cuerdley, Penketh, and Great Sankey, which are in the union of Warrington, and contain 1440 inhabitants. The chapelry is bounded by the river Mersey for three miles, and being rather elevated land, commands views of the Cheshire hills and the Welsh mountains: the soil is of various quality; and red sandstone is quarried. The manufacture of watch-movements is carried on to a considerable extent, as is also that of sailcloth. Cattle-fairs are held in spring and autumn. The St. Helen's and Runcorn railway, and the Huyton branch of the London and North-Western railway, pass near the village. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Prescot; net income, £172, with a house. The chapel is dedicated to St. Wilfrid, and is an ancient edifice, in which different kinds of architecture are combined. The earliest notice of it is preserved in Sir Peter Leycester's History of Cheshire, where it is mentioned that "Sir Peter Dutton received orders from William Harrington, chief steward of Halton, under Henry, Archbishop of Canterbury, and other feoffees of King Henry V., to deliver an oak for the repair of Farnworth chapel." The east window is handsomely enriched, and the edifice contains some interesting monuments to the Bold and other families. There is an endowed chapel at Sankey, which see. A grammar school was founded in the reign of Henry VIII. by Bishop Smith, who was born here, and who endowed it with £10 per annum, since increased to £50 by bequests; there are also excellent national schools.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 216-220. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50957 Date accessed: 30 June 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.

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

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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