A Comprehensive List of All Pre-1851 Manchester Parishes and Chapelries

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Manchester is one of the largest township (population-wise) centres in the whole of England. It's comprised of the parish, that is, the Collegiate Cathedral and numerous chapelries.

During the height of the Industrial Revolution, numerous additional smaller churches called chapelries or chapels of ease (a district within an ancient parish assigned to a chapel) were created to handle Manchester's massive populations. These chapelries kept church registers of baptisms and burials (and in but only a few cases, marriages during the era, 1754-1837), many of which are ancient in origin.

Below is a comprehensive list of all the chapelries associated with the Cathedral (parish) of Manchester Our Lady, St Denys and St George as of 1851. By far the vast majority of the church registers (of which many are now transcribed and online) for Manchester are available at the Lancashire Record Office in Preston and/or the Manchester Central Library. These are also microfilmed and available at The Family History Library and its 4,600 satellite Family History Centers worldwide.

Recognizing that all authoritative treatises on Lancashire's ancient and civil parishes differ from one another--some much more than others--in their data regarding all Manchester [ecclesiastical] districts and townships with chapelries, of necessity several key reference publications and resources have been used here to compile a more comprehensive list of Manchester parishes and all its associated chapelries.


 * Manchester St Andrew 1831 (see Ancoats)
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Luke - 1804 (a non-"consecrated chapel")
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816
 * Manchester St Philip Church, Bradford - 1816

The following chapelries were included as part of and came under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Parish of Manchester:


 * Ancoats Christ Church - 1824 (became Bible Christian)
 * Beswick - extra-parochial - 1878
 * (also known as Birch-in-Rusholme)
 * Blackley St Andrews - 1866
 * Blackley St Peter - 1655
 * Broughton-cum-Kersal - 1839
 * Burials online - 1850-present
 * Denton St George, Danebank - 1841
 * Droylsden St Mary - 1848
 * (burials only; write the Lancashire Record Office for searching additional years and events)
 * Longsight St John - 1846
 * (sometimes referred to as "Newton-Heath"; see also Birch in Rusholme)
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Philip - 1826
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Victoria Park St Chrysostum - 1872
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Denton St George, Danebank - 1841
 * Droylsden St Mary - 1848
 * (burials only; write the Lancashire Record Office for searching additional years and events)
 * Longsight St John - 1846
 * (sometimes referred to as "Newton-Heath"; see also Birch in Rusholme)
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Philip - 1826
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Victoria Park St Chrysostum - 1872
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * (burials only; write the Lancashire Record Office for searching additional years and events)
 * Longsight St John - 1846
 * (sometimes referred to as "Newton-Heath"; see also Birch in Rusholme)
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Philip - 1826
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Victoria Park St Chrysostum - 1872
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Rushulme Holy Trinity - 1846 - see also Birch St James[-in-Rusholme]
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Philip - 1826
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Victoria Park St Chrysostum - 1872
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Salford St Matthias - 1842
 * Salford St Philip - 1826
 * Salford St Simon - 1846
 * Victoria Park St Chrysostum - 1872
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849
 * Victoria Park St Chrysostum - 1872
 * Whalley Range St Margaret - 1849

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Here's a rough list of additional other possible Greater Manchester townships with chapels and churches prior to 1900: Ardwick - 1838 Beswick - 1838 Blackley - 1890 Bradford - 1885 Broughton - 1844 (Salford) Burnage Cheetham - 1838 Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chorlton upon Medlock Crumpsall - 1854 Denton (and Haughton) by 1857 Didsbury Droylsden Gorton Heaton Norris (cheshire) 1835 Hulme Moss Side Moston Newton (Formed Newton Heath Openshaw Reddish Rusholme Salford Stretford Withington

For finding additional chapelries and district churches built after 1851, we strongly recommend the following online reference aids and sites:


 * Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. Wilson, John M. London [1870] - one of the best aids for identifying chapelries or district churches from 1851 to about 1868, and the civil [and ecclesiastical] parish to which they were attached.
 * Lancashire Record Office website: click on "Church Registers" - search under name of ancient parish to find the names of all associated or attached chapels of ease or district church names.
 * Cassell's Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland. London: 1900 - gives the township chapels and district churches for each ancient parish in Lancashire. Somewhat helpful aid; this published work does not always provide--from an ancient parish perspective--the names of each chapelry and when commissioned or built; it is rife many omitted ones.

Helpful Links: 

Some of the chapelries of Manchester and their christening, marriage and burial registers have also been indexed and posted online at the Lancashire "Online Parish Clerk" project.

The website, "A Church Near You" provides some information on some chapelries (and parishes): www.achurchnearyou.com

Bibliography:

Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, by Youngs, Frederic A. Pub: The Royal Historical Society, London 1991

Topographical Dictionary of England. Lewis Samuel. Pub: Samuel A. Lewis &amp; Co. London 1841 &amp;1831

A Comprehensive Gazetteer of England. Bell, James. A. Pub.: Fullarton &amp; Co. Glasgow 1836

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales. A. Fullarton &amp;amp; Co. Glasgow and London ca. 1869 (see also VisionOfBritain.org.uk)

Atlas &amp; Index to Parish Registers. Edited by Cecil Humphrey-Smith. Pub by Phillimore &amp; Co. Ltd.Chichester, Sussex. 2003.