Hey, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
LEES, a hamlet, in the parish and union of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 8½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Manchester, and 2 (E. S. E.) from Oldham, on the road to Huddersfield. This place is in the northern portion of Knott-Lanes, and so situated as to be more connected, locally, with Oldham than Ashton-under-Lyne. A part of the village, which is of some extent, is in Oldham chapelry, and another portion in Saddleworth, Yorkshire; the houses have been for the most part built within the last eighty years, and now number about 600. The population is chiefly employed in the numerous factories in the immediate vicinity, the establishment of which has given importance to the place. A literary society was formed in 1840. Fairs are held in the spring and autumn. The living of Lees is a curacy, net income, £150; patron, the Rector of Ashton. The chapel, dedicated to St. John, is a neat edifice of stone, erected in 1742. An ecclesiastical parish, named St. Thomas, Leesfield, was formed in 1846, by the Ecclesiastical Commission, out of the parish of Ashton and the parochial chapelry of Oldham: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the alternate gift of the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester, with a net income of £150. The church cost £5000, and is a neat building with a square tower. There are several places of worship for dissenters. Near the village is a chalybeate spring, called Lea Spa.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 55-62. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51101 Date accessed: 01 July 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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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
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