Lancashire, England Genealogy

England

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

From Wilson's England gazetteer we learn through his 1870 perspective that "LANCASHIRE, a maritime and northern county [was] bounded on the north, by Cumberland and Westmoreland, on the east by Yorkshire, on the south by Cheshire, and on the west by the Irish sea. A portion of it in the northwest, forming Furness, is detached from the main body by Morecambe bay and a tongue of Westmoreland...

Lancashire contained approximately 71 ancient parishes, and these were at that time divided up by nearly 500 ecclesiastical township chapels, many of them which were ancient chapels of ease (see "Comprehensive List of Chapels" listed under each ancient parish); [the county] contains also "parts of 4 other parishes, and 9 extra-parochial places... The county is divided into the city of Manchester, and the boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Clitheroe, Lancaster, Liverpool, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale, Salford, and Wigan, with parts of the Cheshire 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 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."

Jurisdictions
Lancashire is one of the most complex of all England's counties. The following interactive map is the first of its kind on the Internet for enabling researchers to make sense of this county's jurisdictional makeup: 1851 Jurisdictions Map. How many times have you desired to know those parishes immediately surrounding and contiguous to your target parish in which an ancestor lived, was born or married? Or, to know in which diocesan court in order to search for a probate (will) record, etc.?

Use this map not just to find parishes and chapelries, but all the key jurisdictions in which each ancient (civil) parish and chapelry was attached.

You can find the following jurisdictions and more, in the above map:

Civil Registration District Jurisdictions
When civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1837, Lancashire was divided into nearly 40 registration districts, each containing several parishes and chapelries. To view and see a list of Lancashire districts and the parishes they contain, will greatly help you to quickly identify the correct registration district name when searching for ancestors in the civil registration (post-1837) era.

Ancient Parishes Jurisdictions
See a list of Lancashire 's parishes (see double asterisks) with links to articles.

Probate Court Jurisdictions
Read more about Lancashire Probate Records.

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.