Westleigh St Paul, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
WESTLEIGH, a township, in the parish and union of Leigh, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 1½ mile (N. N. W.) from the town of Leigh, on the road to Wigan; containing 3005 inhabitants. A family of the local name is mentioned in the reign of Richard I. The manor is found in the possession of the Urmstons, of Urmston, in the reign of Henry III., and appears to have continued in that family for several centuries. Richard Urmston, the last male, left three daughters, who intermarried with the Heatons, Shuttleworths, and Bradshavvs, by whom the estates were sold in the course of the last century, when the manorial rights passed to the Athertons, of Atherton, and the Hiltons, of Pennington. In 1797, Thomas Powys, first Lord Lilford, acquired one-fourth of the manor, and the remaining three-fourths subsequently became vested in the Hiltons, of Moston-House: the present Lord Lilford, and John Hall, Esq., are now joint lords. There is abundance of coal in the township. Messrs. Isherwood and Hayes have a large cotton-mill, established in 1835, and employing 400 hands; and here is also a flour-mill. Westleigh Hall is the property and residence of Richard Marsh, Esq. A chapel of ease, St. Paul's, of which the foundation stone was laid in June 1846, was consecrated in October, 1847. It is a handsome edifice in the decorated style, and stands on ground given by Lord Lilford, who also gave the greater part of the stone used in its erection; the cost was defrayed by subscription and public grants, aided by £500 left in November 1839 by a lady, who also bequeathed a sum towards the endowment. The chapel will eventually form a separate incumbency.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 517-519. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51390 Date accessed: 03 August 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

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.

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.