Pennington, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Parish History
Pennington St Michael is an Ancient Parish in the county of Lancashire.

Pennington, since 1974 in Cumbria is a small village/hamlet in Furness, a region of Cumbria. Pennington lies in between Ulverston and Lindal.

There are a set of stocks outside the Church gate that were used to punish offenders and there are runic inscriptions within the churchyard. Pennington is mentioned in the Domesday Book as one of the townships forming the Manor of Hougun held by Earl Tostig.

The modern parish in the Diocese of Carlisle.

Here is an 1848 historical perspective for Pennington by the topographer, Samuel A. Lewis:

"PENNINGTON (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 1½ mile (W. S. W.) from Ulverston; containing 388 inhabitants. This place, which in Domesday Book is styled "Pennigetun," belonged to a local family, one of whom, Gamel de Pennington, was a very considerable person at the time of the Conquest. From him descended Sir John Pennington, who commanded the left wing of the army in an expedition into Scotland under the Earl of Northumberland; Sir John was much attached to Henry VI., and gave him a secret asylum at Muncaster (the family seat in Cumberland), for some time, in his flight from his enemies. The grandson of this knight distinguished himself at the battle of Flodden; and was ancestor of William Pennington, who was created a baronet in June 1676: the fifth baronet of the family was elevated to the peerage in 1783, by the title of Baron Muncaster. This is one of the smallest parishes in the county, and contains fewer streams than any parish in North Lonsdale; the waters are small rills, and for the most part nameless. The area is 1632a. 2r., of ancient inclosure, and 1122 acres of common inclosed by an act obtained in 1821: most of the cultivated land is arable; about onefourth only consists of pasture. Iron-ore and blue slate abound. The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Crown in right of the duchy of Lancaster; net income, £150; impropriator, the Arabic Professor in the university of Oxford. The church is an edifice of modern style, devoid of ornament, erected by subscription in 1826, at a cost of about £550, of which George IV. contributed £50, and the Incorporated Society £100."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 545-549. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51208 Date accessed: 20 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.

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

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

Poor Law Unions
Ulverston Poor Law Union,Lancashire

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
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