Christleton, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Christleton



Parish History
Christleton St James is an ancient parish in Cheshire including Cotton Abbotts, Rowton, Littleton, and Cotton Edmunds. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester.

The name of the village is recorded in the Domesday Book and it is likely that a church was on the site at this time. In 1093 the patronage of the church was given to the monks of St Werburgh's Abbey, Chester. The church was rebuilt in stone around 1490 and the tower built at this time is still present. The church sustained considerable damage during the Civil War and around 1730 the nave and chancel were repaired. However during a service in 1873 the roof of the nave partly collapsed. Plans for rebuilding the church were prepared by William Butterfield, retaining the 15th century tower, adding gargoyles to each corner and a short spire to the turret. The rebuilding took place between 1875 and 1877 It is the only Cheshire church designed by William Butterfield. Pevsner quotes Goodhart-Rendel who considered that "this is an exceptionally interesting church".

Christleton is a small village and civil parish on the outskirts of Chester in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England.

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.

Registration Districts

 * Great Boughton (1837–69)
 * Chester (1870–1937)
 * West Cheshire (1937–74)
 * Chester and Ellesmere Port (1974–98)
 * Cheshire West (post 1998)
 * Registration events may be searched online at Cheshire BMD

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

Parish registers for Christleton, 1697-1969 Cheshire Record Office call number: P 28/1/1-2, P 28/2/1-3, P 28/3/1-7, P 28/4, P 28/5/1-5.

An index for Cheshire parish registers is available online in FamilySearch Historical Records. Here is a list of church records on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Bishop's transcripts for Christleton, 1600-1859 Early text in Latin. Cheshire Record Office call number: EDB 64

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s transcripts is available online in FamilySearch Historical Records

Non-Conformist Churches
Christleton, Methodist Chapel. ReBuilt in 1888.

Non-Conformist Records:

Cheshire Record Office 1 volume. 1926-30 Christleton (CR 55/90-91; CR 55/2/43-46) within Chester Methodist Circuit. The Cheshire Record Office records that the church opened in 1888.

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.

Poor Law Unions

 *  Great Boughton (1837–71)see Tarvin (previously Great Boughton) Poor Law Union, Cheshire
 * Chester Poor Law Union from 1871-1930

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