Stanlow, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Cheshire Parishes  Stanlow

Parish History
STAN LOW-HOUSE, an extra-parochial liberty, in the union of Great Boughton, Higher division of the hundred of Wirrall, S. division of the county of Chester, 8 miles (N. by E.) from Chester. It is situated on the estuary of the Mersey. An abbey of Cistercian monks was founded here in 1178; but on account of the inundations of the Mersey in 1296, it was removed to Whalley, in Lancashire.

Stanlow was an extra parochial place in Cheshire and it is neccessary to search surrounding parishes for ecclesiastical records. Great Stanney is the parish to which Stanlow was attached. Stanlow became a civil parish in 1866 and was added to Great Stanney in 1911. In 1964 Ellesmere Port Christ Church became the parish church for the area.

The abbey was founded in 1178 by John FitzRichard, the sixth Baron of Halton.Roger de Lacy, John de Lacy and Edmund de Lacy, respectively the 7th, 8th and 9th Barons of Halton, were buried at Stanlow. In 1279 it was flooded by water from the Mersey and in 1287 during a fierce storm, its tower collapsed and part of the abbey was destroyed by fire. The monks appealed to the pope for the monastery to be moved to a better site and, with the pope's consent and the agreement of Edward I and Henry de Lacy, the 10th Baron, they moved to Whalley Abbey near Clitheroe, Lancashire. This move took place in 1296. However a small cell of monks remained on the site until the Reformation, the site becoming a grange of Whalley Abbey. The remains of the abbey lie between the Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The standing remains include two sandstone walls and a re-used doorway, and the buried features include part of a drain leading to the River Gowy. These remains are recognised as a scheduled monument.

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.

Registration Districts

 * Great Boughton (1837–69)
 * Chester (1870–1937)
 * West Cheshire (1937–50)
 * registration events may be searched online at Cheshire BMD

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

This is an extra parochial place.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Cheshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions

 * Great Boughton (1837–71) Tarvin (previously Great Boughton) Poor Law Union, Cheshire
 * Chester Poor Law Union (1871–1930)

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