Lancashire, England Genealogy

Lancashire (abbreviated Lancs), is a maritime county located in the North West of England. It is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster.

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"LANCASHIRE, a maritime and northern county bounded on the N, by Cumberland and Westmoreland, on the E by Yorkshire, on the S by Cheshire, and on the W by the Irish sea. A portion of it in the NW, forming Furness, is detached from the main body by Morecambe bay and a tongue of Westmoreland...

"Lancashire contains approximately 71 parishes, divided by nearly 500 eccesliastical township chapels and chapelries (see "Comprehensive List of Chapels"... for each ancient parish); and contains also parts of 4 other parishes, and 9 extra-parochial places... The county is divided into the city of Manchester, the boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, and Wigan, with parts of the boroughs of Stalybridge, Stockport, and Warrington... and comprises 1,319,391 acres...

"Lancashire is governed by a lord lieutenant, a high sheriff, and about 350 magistrates; and is in the northern judiciary circuit, and in the N military district. The assizes, for the N section, are held at Lancaster; those for the S section are held at Liverpool and Manchester; quarter sessions are held at Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool, and Manchester...

"The deanery of Furness and Cartmel is in the diocese of Carlisle; the deanery of Warrington, excepting the parish of Leigh, is in the diocese of Chester; and the deaneries of Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Manchester, and Tunstall, and the parish of Leigh, constitute the diocese of Manchester.

"The places of worship, in the electoral county, in 1851, were 529 of the Church of England, 5 of the Church of Scotland, 12 of the Presbyterian church in England, 5 of the United Presbyterian church, 1 of Reformed Irish Presbyterians, 170 of Independents, 100 of Baptists, 27 of Quakers, 11 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, 8 of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, 2 of Moravians, 35 of Unitarians, 300 of Wesleyan Methodists, 27 of New Connexion Methodists, 1 of Bible Christians, 1 of Independent Methodists, 81 of the Wesleyan Association, 4 of Wesleyan Reformers, 1 of Sandemanians, 21 of the New Church, 5 of Brethren, 36 of isolated congregations, 114 of Roman Catholics, 1 of the Greek Church, 1of the Catholic and Apostolic church, 15 of Latter Day Saints, and 7 of Jews...

"Population in 1801 was 673,486; in 1821 was 1,052,948; in 1841 was 1,667,054; and in 1861 was 2,429,440."

The above extract is adapted from: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). For the full account, go to Vision of Britain.

Jurisdictions
Use an interactive mapto find jurisdictions for most chapelries (and parishes) in Lancashire.

Civil Districts
When civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1837, Lancashire was divided into districts, each containing several parishes. To see a list of Lancashire districts and the parishes they contain, click here.

Read more about Lancashire Probate Records.

Parishes
See a list of Lancashire parishes with links to articles.

Probate Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every town and parish in Lancashire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and one or more secondary courts. To see a list of Lancashire parishes and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, go to Lancashire Probate Records.

Useful Resources
Raymond, Stuart A. Lancashire: a genealogical bibliography, vol. 1, Lancashire genealogical sources. Birmingham [England]: Federation of Family History Societies, c 1996-1997.

Raymond, Stuart A. Lancashire: a genealogical bibliography, vol. 2. Registers, inscriptions and wills. Birmingham [England]: Federation of Family History Societies, c 1996-1997.

Raymond, Stuart A. Lancashire: a genealogical bibliography, vol. 3. ''Lancashire family histories and pedigrees. ''Birmingham [England]: Federation of Family History Societies, c 1996-1997.

Useful Websites
Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks Links to extracted data from many of the parishes in Lancashire. GENUKI UK &amp; Ireland Genealogy Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

England, Lancashire, Oldham Cemetery Registers (FamilySearch Historical Records)

To view an excellent list of web sites and/or web pages for Lancashire and many of its parishes, visit FHLFavorites.info.