Birch in Hopwood, Lancashire Genealogy

England   Lancashire   Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Birch in Hopwood St Mary was created a chapelry in 1828, taken from, and lying within the boundaries of Middleton, Lancashire ancient parish.

"BIRCH, a village, in the parish of Middleton, union of Oldham, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 2½ miles (W. N. W.) from Middleton. This place is half-way between Rochdale and Manchester: the road from Manchester to Heywood runs through the village; and the Rochdale canal, and Manchester and Leeds railway, pass along the eastern side of the district chapelry of Birch. The spinning of cotton and the manufacture of gingham are carried on to a limited extent. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rector of Middleton, with a net income of £150; there is a parsonage-house. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, was built by means of a parliamentary grant of £4000, and consecrated Dec. 11th, 1828. Attached is a district formed out of the parishes of Middleton and Bury. A national school is connected with the church."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 248-255. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50801 Date accessed: 25 June 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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist 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

Bishop's transcripts for Birch, near Middleton, 1829-1839 Micro-reproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Bishop's transcripts of the chapelry of Birch, also called Birch-St. Mary, which is in the township of Hopwood, parish of Middleton, Lancashire, England. Lancashire Record Office: DRM/2/233

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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

Poor Law Unions
Oldham 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
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.

http://www.stmarybirch.org.uk/ fro information about the parish

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53022 Hopwood British History Online

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Hopwood/StMary.shtml for images of the church