Manchester St John, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapel History
St. John's, in Byrom-street, was built by Edward Byrom, Esq., under the authority of an act of parliament, in 1769, and is a handsome structure in the later English style, with a tower: the interior is remarkably neat, and finely ornamented; some of the windows are embellished with beautiful stained glass...

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 221-247. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51130 Date accessed: 19 July 2010.

St John's Byrom Street Manchester was created a chapel of ease by 1769 from, and lying within the boundaries of Manchester Our Lady, St George and St Denys, Lancashire Ancient Parish; located on Deansgate. The marriages registers, commencing in 1813, continue through the remaining portion of the Lord Hardwick Act era--one of the few churches in the Greater Manchester area, allowed to marry couples within its walls during this period.

The church was built by Edward Byrom following an Act of Parliament in 1768. St John's parish was united with Manchester St Matthew, Campfield, Lancashire in 1928 when St Mathews became the parish church, but the St John's parsonage served as the home for the clergy. St John's church was demolished in 1931. This new parish was united with Manchester St Ann, Lancashire in 1943.

St. John's Gardens is on the site of one of Manchester's lost churches. Built in 1768/9, St. John's Church was built for Edward Byrom, a local landowner and businessman. It was demolished in 1931. The gardens which are situated close to Deansgate, between Byrom Street and Lower Byrom Street, consist of amenity grassland laid out in formal lawns, flower and herbaceous bedding areas with ornamental planting, access routes, seating and an amenity hut. City workers, tourists and city centre residents predominantly use this green space as a relaxation garden. A monument to the church and the 22,000 people buried in its grounds stands in the middle of the Gardens where the original entrance of St. John's Church lay. One of the panels within the monument stands in memory of William Marsden who was instrumental in obtained the Saturday half day holiday for Manchester in 1843.

www.images.manchester.gov.uk/libraries for images of the church Manchester Libraries Image Collection

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

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

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

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.

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.

Gerald Lodge's excellent website http://www.manchester-family-history-research.co.uk/new_page_11.htm contains an image of the church.