Manchester Our Lady, St George and St Denys, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Guide to Manchester Cathedral family history and genealogy. Parish records and chapelries. Here is A Comprehensive List of All Pre-1851 Manchester Parishes and Chapelries.

Parish History
Our Lady, St George and St Denys, Manchester, the Cathedral Church, is the ancient parish and was founded in Druidic times. Here is an 1848 historical perspective of Greater Manchester, by topographer, Samuel Lewis, taken from Topographical Dictionary of England. By 1880, Manchester had at least 125 chapels of ease and district churches/chapels attached to it, and which subdivided its boundary. See A Comprehensive List of All Pre-1851 Manchester Parishes and Chapelries.

The Collegiate Church of Manchester foundation in 1421 enabled the Dean and Fellows of the Collegiate Church to control the rapid growth of the Ancient Parish population to the pecuniary advantage of the Collegiate Church.

The lack of Manchester Churches and practice of the Collegiate church contributed to the formation of the Manchester Diocese in 1847 and subsequent Diocesan building program.

Manchester Our Lady, St George and St Denys is the Ancient Parish and perhaps the largest market town in the county of Lancashire and was quite probably, the largest ancient parish in the realm. Based on Mantell's excellent background, and on evidence of no marriage registers extant for Manchester's smaller chapels (called chapelries) and the town's smaller ecclesiastical parishes, the Cathedral then was where just about all Mancunians were married. The only other known churches in Greater Manchester allowed to marry couples were Manchester St John's Deangate and Manchester St Mary's.

A useful background article by Henry Mantell Manchester Cathedral explains the influence of the Dean and Fellows of the Collegiate church on Manchester Parish records.

For all place-names within the parish boundaries, please see "A Comprehensive List of All Pre-1851 Manchester Parishes and Chapelries.

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 (See under "England" main page).

There are two important online sites with indexes to the births, marriages and deaths. These are:


 * FreeBMD.- index to the GRO (General Register Offices) BMDs)
 * Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths at the Lancashire BMD - indexes to the local BMDs held at (the superintendent) registrar offices throughout most of Lancashire

If, for example, a certificate cannot be located in the FreeBMD index website, then try the local registrar offices website at Lancashire BMD to find it. often this proves successful in locating the appropriate certificate.

Church records
Online Records
 * 1538 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1603 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index and images

There are online transcriptions for most of the Manchester City ecclesiastical parishes--including the ancient parish (Cathedral) of Our Lady, St George and St Denys, and for the baptism, marriage and burial registers of many of its numerous (approximately 150) chapelries lying within its boundaries. Displayed below are those chapelries (including the Cathedral) with available online data located at the web sites indicated below; note the ranges of years:

Note the following two churches within the borders of Manchester ancient parish (the Cathedral ofSt Mary, St George St Denys) were the only other churches holding rights and privileges to marry couples, from 1754-1837:


 * 1) Manchester St John's Deansgate - from 1804
 * 2) Manchester St Mary's Chapelry - from 1806

Even those residing in the township of Salford (also within the boundary of Manchester) were required, according to Church of England policy, to marry at the mother parish--that is--Manchester Cathedral.

Original Records
Original parish and chapel registers are held at the Manchester Record Office, William Brown Street, Manchester L3 8EW, United Kingdom.

Microfilmed copies of original Manchester Cathedral and most of its over 150 chapelries' registers are mostly available at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A. and its 4,600 satellite FamilySearch Centersworldwide. These films may be ordered for and original baptism, marriage and burial entries may be viewed at these centers.

Poor Law Unions
Manchester 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.

Taxation

 * 1541 - (p. 138)


 * 1622 - (p. 148)

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