Smallbridge, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
SMALLBRIDGE, an ecclesiastical district [in 1834], in the parish and union of [St Chad] Rochdale, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, 2 miles (N. E.) from Rochdale, on the road to Halifax; containing 5875 inhabitants. This district comprises the greater part of the township of Wuerdale with Wardle: the soil is generally clay, the surface undulated, and the scenery wild and romantic. There are coal-mines and good stonequarries, which, with two woollen-mills and three cottonmills, chiefly employ the population. Great Howarth, the property of J. S. Entwisle, Esq., stands on a fine eminence, and commands an extensive view. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Rochdale; net income, £150, partly derived from the interest of £2000 left in 1840 by Jonathan Fildes, Esq., of Quarry Hill. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was erected in 1833, at a cost of £3071, and is in the later English style, with a campanile turret; the eastern window is of painted glass. There are excellent national schools.

Adapted from: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 123-125. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51284 Date accessed: 21 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
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

Bishop's transcripts for Smallbridge, 1834-1857 Microreproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Bishop's transcripts of the chapelry of Smallbridge (St. John) in the township of Wuerdle-with-Wardle, Rochdale parish, Lancashire. Lancashire Record Office: DRM/2/308

Census records
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
Rochdale 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.