Leigh, Lancashire Genealogy

Guide to Leigh, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
LEIGH (St Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 46 miles south by southeast of Lancaster, comprising the separate parochial district chapel of Tyldesley cum Shakerley, as well the chapelries of Astley, Atherton, and Bedford, and the townships of Pennington and Westleigh. There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, Roman Catholics, and others.

For a list of all chapels standing within this parish, see A Comprehensive List of Chapelries in Leigh Parish.

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

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Church records

 * 1538 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1603 - 1910 at FamilySearch — index and images

Online Records

Leigh St Mary's parish registers and those registers of all of its smaller chapelries lying within its boundaries have been mostly transcribed and are displayed online at the following web sites and ranges of years:

Leigh St Mary the Virgin's original parish registers are held at the Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston, PR1 2RE as follows:

Baptisms-1559-1701- MFPR 2190 Baptisms-1701-1724- MFPR 1027 or MFPR 2190 Baptisms-1724-1797- MFPR 1027 or MFPR 2191 Baptisms-1797-1825-MFPR 1027 Baptisms-1825-1834- MFPR 1028 Baptisms-1834-1839- MFPR 1028 or MFPR 2194 Baptisms-1839-1885- MFPR 2194 Baptisms-1885-1900- MFPR 2195 Baptisms-1900-1913- Archives L211 Baptisms Transcript--1558-1624- 929.3272 L12 or MFE 929.3272 L13 Baptisms Transcript--1625-1700- 929.3272 L13 Baptisms Transcript--1701-1753- 929.342736 Le(499) Burials-1560-1648- MFPR 2190 Burials-1648-1660- Archives L211 Burials-1660-1661- MFPR 2190 Burials-1661-1701- MFPR 2191 Burials-1701-1786- MFPR 1030 or MFPR 2191 Burials-1786-1830- MFPR 1030 Burials-1830-1837- MFPR 1030 or MFPR 2196 Burials-1837-1842- MFPR 1032 or MFPR 2196 Burials-1842-1856- MFPR 2196 Burials Transcript--1559-1625- 929.3272 L12 or MFE 929.3272 L13 Burials Transcript--1625-1700- 929.3272 L13 Burials Transcript--1701-1753- 929.342736 Le(499) Marriage Index-1754-1799- F929.3272 Be1 Marriages-1560-1701- MFPR 2190 Marriages-1701-1724- MFPR 1029 or MFPR 2191 Marriages-1724-1753- MFPR 1029 or MFPR 2195 Marriages-1754-1758- MFPR 1029 or MFPR 2191 Marriages-1759-1825- MFPR 1029 Marriages-1825-1837- MFPR 1029 or MFPR 2192 Marriages-1837-1845- MFPR 2192 Marriages-1845-1900- MFPR 2193 Marriages-1900-1901- Archives L211 Marriages Transcript--1560-1625- 929.3272 L12 or MFE 929.3272 L13 Marriages Transcript--1625-1700- 929.3272 L13 Marriages Transcript--1701-1753- 929.342736 Le(499)

The Manchester Room and Greater Manchester County Record Office Email: archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk

The Manchester Room@City Library (Local Studies)

Parish registers for St. Mary-the-Virgin Church, Leigh, 1560-1901 Microfilm of original records in the Wigan Record Office, Leigh, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, England. Many times the records for the chapels in Atherton and Astley are separate. For additional records for Atherton see: Church of England. Atherton (Lancashire). Manchester Archives Central Library call nos.: L 211/1/1/1-4; L 211/1/2/1.(see above for Manchester Archive) Leigh, Greater Manchester : Filmed by the Wigan Record Office], 1993 14 microfilm reels Baptisms, 1560-1723; Marriages, 1560-1723; Burials, 1560-1723. FHL BRITISH Film 1885656 Baptisms, 1724-1797; Marriages, 1724-1759; Burials, 1724-1797. FHL BRITISH Film 1885648 Baptisms, 1798-1812; Burials, 1798-1812. FHL BRITISH Film 1885649 Item 1 Baptisms, 1813-1825 (includes transcripts for 1798-1800). FHL BRITISH Film 1885647 Baptisms, 1825-1834. FHL BRITISH Film 1885649 Items 2 - 3 Baptisms, 1834-1885. FHL BRITISH Film 1885645 Baptisms, 1885-1900; Marriages, 1754-1758. FHL BRITISH Film 1885646 Marriages, 1759-1803. FHL BRITISH Film 1885650 Marriages, 1803-1825. FHL BRITISH Film 1885651 Marriages, 1825-1845. FHL BRITISH Film 1885652 Marriages, 1845-1900 (includes some entries for 1901). FHL BRITISH Film 1885653 Burials, 1813-1830. FHL BRITISH Film 1885654 Burials, 1830-1856. FHL BRITISH Film 1885655 Baptisms, burials, 1560-1660; marriages, 1560-1682. Baptisms, 1660-1724; marriages, 1683-1724; burials, 1661. (another filming) Vault BRITISH Film 1408959 Items 3 - 4 Burials, 1661-1723. Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1724-1743. Baptisms, burials, 1744-1781; marriages, 1744-1759. Baptisms, 1782-1797; burials, 1782-1787 (another filming). Vault BRITISH Film 1408960

Poor Law Unions
Leigh, Lancashire 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