Arkholme, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
Arkholme St John the Baptist is a chapel created in 1740 from Melling (near Liverpool), ancient parish. Other places in the parish include: Cawood.

Until 1866 Arkholme was a chapel of ease of Melling church, but in that year it became a parish in its own right.

A church is known to have existed at Arkholme around 1450: a time when the village was known as Erwhum. It can never have been a large building, and was probably a single rectangular space covered by one roof. It is likely that elements of the plan of the present church, and probably some of its walling dates back to those times.

Arkholme is one of only two Thankful Villages in Lancashire - those rare places that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914 to 1918. This small village sent by far the biggest number from one village and parish off to war - 59. It is remarkable that all 59 returned to their homes. A nearby village, Nether Kellet,Lancashire, 5 miles to the south west, sent 21 men and it, too, is a Thankful Village - all their men returned.

ARKHOLME, with Cawood, a chapelry, in the parish of Melling, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 10 miles (N. E.) from Lancaster, on the road to KirkbyLonsdale; containing 407 inhabitants. This place is mentioned in the Domesday survey. Roger de Monte Begon gave to the Cluniac priory of Thetford the wood called "Cainueda;" and in the reign of Edward I. Geoffrey de Nevill obtained the grant of a market and fair to be held in the township. It comprises 2756 acres, whereof 2466 are meadow and pasture, 160 arable, and 130 waste, forest, &amp;c.; the surface is generally level, being part of the vale of the Lune, which river flows beautifully in this vicinity. Stone for building is quarried, and the population are employed in agriculture and the manufacture of baskets and other articles of osier-work, several osier-beds being found along the river. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £65, and a house; patron, the Vicar of Melling. The church is an ancient plain structure, with a belltower. A school is supported by subscription. Behind the church is a tumulus.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 69-73. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50759 Date accessed: 25 June 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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