Tatham Fells, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Tatham Fells was created a chapel of ease in 1737 from, and lying within the boundaries of Tatham, Lancashire Ancient Parish; and siturated in Lowgill. A large part of the parish of Tatham is an upland area, known as Tatham Fells, which includes the largest settlement in Tatham, Lowgill; its highest point, at Ward's Stone; and the Great Stone of Fourstones, known locally as "The Big Stone".

Lowgill is a hamlet within the Forest of Bowland.

The Forest of Bowland is a sparsely inhabited Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with sheep farming and steep narrow unclassified roads passing between settlements and isolated farms.

The present church was built in the 1880's; the site of the altar of the previous chapelry is marked in the churchyard by a stone cross.

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.

"TATHAM-FELL, a chapelry, with Lowgill village, in Tatham parish, Lancashire; 2½ miles S by W of High Bentham r. station, and 5 ESE of Hornby. Post town, Wray, under Lancaster. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £125. Patron, the Rector of Tatham. The church was built in 1745. There is a parochial school."

From: John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870)



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
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

Parish registers for Melling, 1625- Microfilm of original records in the Lancashire Record Office, Preston, England. Lancshire Record Office no.: PR 2898/1/1-12; PR 3326/1/1.

Bishop's transcripts for Tatham, 1676-1872 Text in Latin and English. Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Includes records for chapelry of Tatham-fell 1813-1836, 1862-1865 (baptisms and burials). Tatham-Fell is a chapelry in the parish of Tatham.

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

Poor Law Unions
Caton Gilbert 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
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.