Stretford St Matthew, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapel History
Stretford [St Matthew] is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1717 from chapelry Manchester Our Lady, St George and St Denys, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

It was founded before 1413. In early medieval days the de Trafford family built a small chapel for their own tenantry and it is known that a chantry existed there in 1413. In 1718 Stretford Chapel was rebuilt on the site of its predecessor. It was furnished with a barrel-organ to provide music for the services even though it was "deficient of notes"; the instrument was augmented by minstrels playing Basvoyle and Oby (Oboe).

The third Stretford church, St. Matthew's was built on a new and larger site given by Sir Thomas de Trafford in 1841. The church was enlarged in 1863 and the chancel added in 1906.

STRETFORD, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Manchester, union of Chorlton, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 4 miles (S. W.) from Manchester; containing 3524 inhabitants. The chapelry comprises 3121 acres, of which 85 are common or waste land. It is separated by the river Mersey from Cheshire, and lies on the road from Manchester to Northwich. Here is a large paper-mill; and the place has been for many years a celebrated mart for pigs: from 600 to 700 pigs were sent weekly to the Manchester market; but since the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool railway, this trade has been gradually removing to Manchester, so that now not more than two or three hundred pigs are slaughtered here per week. The Duke of Bridgewater's canal, and the railway from Manchester to Altrincham, pass through the chapelry. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £150; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Manchester, whose tithes here have been commuted for £430: the glebe comprises 18 acres. The chapel, supposed to have been erected by the Trafford family in the reign of Elizabeth, was taken down and rebuilt in 1718, was enlarged in 1821, and again in 1824. In 1842 it was once more taken down, being deemed unsafe, and being much too small for the accommodation of the people; and the present chapel was built on a new site, about thirty yards from the former one. It is dedicated to St. Matthew, is in the early English style, with a handsome tower, and contains 917 sittings, of which 351 are free: the cost was estimated at £3250. The edifice was erected chiefly through the exertions of the Rev. J. Clarke, the present curate and locum tenens; as were also the national schools for boys, girls, and infants, which are an additional ornament to the place, and cost about £1150. The inhabitants have testified their gratitude to the curate by presenting him an elegant teaservice, and a purse, the value together being 120 guineas. Ten children are entirely clothed during three years; and the schools may be considered as endowed with £45 per annum by a bequest from Mrs. Hind. The Manchester Botanic Gardens, and the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and for the Blind, are in the township.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 246-250. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51314 Date accessed: 26 July 2010.

Historically a part of Lancashire, during much of the 19th century Stretford was an agricultural village known locally as Porkhampton, a reference to the large number of pigs produced for the nearby Manchester market. It was also an extensive market gardening area, producing over 500 long tons (508 t) of vegetables each week for sale in Manchester by 1845. The arrival of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 and the subsequent development of the Trafford Park Industrial Estate in the north of the town, accelerated the industrialisation which had begun in the late 19th century. By 2001, less than 1% of Stretford's population was employed in agriculture.

Stretford has been the home of Manchester United Football Club since 1910, and of the Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1864. Notable residents have included the industrialist, philanthropist, and Manchester's first multi-millionaire John Rylands, the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, the painter L. S. Lowry, Morrissey of the Smiths and Jay Kay of Jamiroquai.

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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Parish registers for St. Matthew's, Stretford, 1712-1960 Microfilm of original records formerly held at the Manchester Archives Central Library in Manchester, England. Stretford was a chapelry in Manchester parish. The church was known as St. Matthew's. It later became an ecclesiastical parish. Manchester Archives Central Library call nos.: L 89/1/3/1-5, L 89/1/4/1-8; L 89/1/5/1-3; L 89/1/1/2; L 89/1/2/2; L 89/1/14/2-3.

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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Church website http://www.stretfordstmatthews.com/index.html