Royton, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Royton St Paul by subscription (donor) was created as a chapel of ease by 1754, serving the parochial chapelry of Oldham St Mary, Lancashire, and lying within the boundaries of Prestwich Parish.

"ROYTON, a chapelry, in the parochial chapelry, parliamentary borough, and union of Oldham, parish of Prestwich, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 2 miles (N. by W.) from Oldham, on the road to Rochdale; containing 5730 inhabitants. This is the smallest of the townships in connexion with Oldham, comprising only 700 acres. It is chiefly pasture land; the surface is undulated and hilly, the soil generally dry and sandy, and the aspect rather wild. The village is seated in a deep valley, and fifty years ago contained only a few straggling cottages, but within the last thirty years it has assumed the appearance of a town, from the erection of several regular streets, which are lighted with gas. The population is chiefly employed in the cotton, fustian, and flannel manufactures, and in the extensive coalmines and stone-quarries in the neighbourhood. The streams of the Irk and the Beal rise in the chapelry. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Prestwich; net income, £170, with a house. The tithes of the township have been commuted for £50. The chapel, dedicated to St. Paul, was built by subscription in 1754, and a tower, with a clock, was added, also by subscription, in 1828. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyans, and the Society of Friends; and a good national school, opened in 1846."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 707-711. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51248 Date accessed: 20 July 2010.

By an indenture made on the 9th August 1753, Thomas Percival of Royton, in consideration of the sum of one shilling, paid to him by Ralph Taylor and other trustees, sold a plot of land in Royton called Downey Field and another plot of land called The Acre. Their purpose was to erect a good substantial building of brick or stone and oak timbers and other lasting materials in the form of a chapel.

The chapel was ready to be dedicated on the 10th August 1754 and consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Chester on the 1st July 1757. This building was a chapel of ease to the mother church of Prestwich St Mary, Lancashire. Indeed, the Vicar of Prestwich is Patron of the Living to this day. It was a rectangular building, lighted by four windows in the north and south walls, with galleries running along all inner walls.

In 1854, the building was enlarged. An additional bay and window was added at each end. The steeple which had stood outside the church was now incorporated into the building.

In 1883 the church was further enlarged by taking out part of the east wall and building the present chancel. The east window in memory of John and Jane Holden was inserted at this time.

In 1888 plans for what was almost the rebuilding of the church were approved. The Nave was taken down and a new and enlarged Nave erected. On the south side, many graves which had once been outside were suddenly inside the new building. Choir and clergy vestries were added and a new organ chamber was created on the north side. On Saturday 6th April 1889 a stone laying ceremony saw the laying of two stones. One stone was laid by Mrs. Holden of Highlands House, the other by Colonel le Gendre W.Starkie. From: http://www.saint-pauls-royton.org/

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

Churches and chapels in Royton
Royton had no medieval church of its own, and for ecclesiastical purposes, lay within the parish of Prestwich-cum-Oldham in the Diocese of Lichfield, until 1541, when this diocese was divided and Royton became part of the Diocese of Chester. This in turn was divided in 1847, when the present Diocese of Manchester was created. For ritual baptisms, marriages and burials, the people of Royton, a Christian community, had to travel to churches that lay outside of the township's boundaries, including Oldham St Mary, Lancashire, St Leonard's Middleton, Lancashire or  Prestwich St Mary, Lancashire.

The Religious Society of Friends were recorded as holding conventicles in Heyside in as early as the 1650s. A Baptist meeting place was erected in 1775. Congregational preachers regularly visited Royton, but it was not until 1854 that a workshop was established in the town. Primitive Methodism was established in Royton in a room in a Royley building, with its first purpose-built church being erected in 1867.

Roman Catholicism in Royton after the English Reformation began in 1874, when a disused factory was used as a chapel. Sir Percival Radcliffe, the then owner of Royton Hall, gave land and £2,000 towards the construction of a new Catholic school-chapel which opened in 1880; the local priest lived at Royton Hall. A rectory was built in 1901 and in 1966 the church, dedicated to saints Aidan and Oswald, was rebuilt. Royton, which forms part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, continues to have a Catholic community, supported by Our Lady's R.C. High School.

The Lancashire Online Parish Clerk website contains a listing of all denominations in the Oldham area (see below).

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

Parish registers, 1755-1938 Microfilm of original records housed at the Central Library, Oldham.

The Chapelry of Royton is in the parish of Prestwich.

Bishop's transcripts for Royton, 1758-1880 Microreproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston.The Chapelry of Royton (St. Paul's) is in the parish of Prestwich. It was formerly in the parish of Oldham. Lancashire Record Office: DRM/2/253-258

Lancashire Online Parish Clerk
A valuable resource is the online information provided by the Online Parish Clerk at http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Oldham/Royton/index.html with links to Baptisms, marriages and burials for the parish with surname index.

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

Poor Law unions
Oldham Poor Law Union

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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.

http://www.saint-pauls-royton.org/ for information about the parish

http://www.manchester.anglican.org/churches/rochdale-archdeaconry/oldham-west.asp?Page=2 for information about Oldham West Denery of the Diocese of Manchester

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53009 British History online

http://www.roytononline.co.uk/#/royton-history/4526877701 Royton History Society web page

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Royton/ GENUKI page