Whittington, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Parish History
Whittington St Michael is an Ancient Parish in the county of Lancashire.Other places in the parish include: Newton with Docker and Docker.

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

WHITTINGTON, a parish, in the union of Lancaster, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 2 miles (S. W. by S.) from KirkbyLonsdale; containing 425 inhabitants. This is the Witetvne of the Saxon era, and was anciently of considerable extent. William de Coucy in the 14th of Edward III. had a grant of free warren here; and in the 49th of the same reign, Sir John de Coupeland, successor of de Coucy, owned a third of the manor: the manor was therefore held in portions, but when they were united does not appear. In the reign of James I., the lord of Hornby claimed Whittington as a mesne manor. The family of Bordrigge are said to have been lords in the last century: an heiress of this family married Richard North, Esq., a descendant of the Norths of Docker. The parish comprises 4322a. 1r. 38p.; upwards of two-thirds of the cultivated land are arable, about 1000 acres meadow and pasture, 153 old woodland, and 100 in new plantations. The surface is undulated, terminating in naked heights, or declining into small fertile flats on the banks of the Lune. The farmers are extensive cultivators of potatoes, with which the neighbouring markets are supplied; the soil is various, much of it of good quality. Limestone is wrought; and thin veins of coal exist, but they are not at present worked. The Lune flows along the whole eastern side of the parish; and the fishery in the Whittington part, valuable on account of its salmon, is claimed by the owners of the estates that adjoin the stream. The Keer takes its rise from several little brooks in the hollows beneath Docker, and becomes a limit between this parish and the parish of Burton-in-Kendal. Whittington Hall was rebuilt in 1840, by Thomas Greene, Esq., M.P. for Lancaster, the present owner. The village is beautifully situated, overlooking the vale of Lune. A court baron is occasionally held. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 9. 9½.; net income, £415; patron, E. Hornby, Esq., of Dalton Hall, near Burton-in-Kendal. The church is named in the Valor of Pope Nicholas, in 1291; it was partly rebuilt in 1716, and is a plain specimen of the late pointed style, consisting of a tower, nave, aisles, and a chancel separated from the nave by a screen of not much elegance. The name of the saint to whom it is dedicated is unknown. William Margison, in 1762, left £1000 for building and endowing a school; and there are a few minor charities. Micaceous earth has been detected in the strata underneath Whittington Hall, similar to that which is met with on Ingleborough. Fossil ferns occur at Docker; and the parish contains two small chalybeate springs.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 557-560. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51401 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.

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

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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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