Wolstanton, Staffordshire Genealogy

England Staffordshire



Parish History
Wolstanton St Margaret is an Ancient Parish in the county of Staffordshire. Other places in the parish include: Branscliff, Wedgwood, Briershurst, Brieryhurst, Chatterley, Chatterly, Dales Green, Great Chell, Greenfield, Harrisea Head, Kidsgrove, Knutton, Little Chell, Oldcott, Ranscliff, Sandyford, Stadmoreslow, Stadmorslow, Thursfield, Wainlee, and Brerehurst.

WOLSTANTON (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union of Wolstanton and Burslem, N. division of the hundred of Pirehill and of the county of Stafford; containing 16,575 inhabitants, of whom 1175 are in the township of Wolstanton, 1¼ mile (N. by E.) from Newcastle-under-Lyme. This parish is divided into the North and South sides or divisions, embracing 10,380 acres, whereof 2036 are arable, 8034 pasture, 200 woodland (exempt from tithe, by prescription), and 110 waste and water. It includes the townships of Brieryhurst, Chatterley, Chell, Chesterton, Knutton, Oldcott, Ranscliffe, Stadmerslow, Thursfield, Tunstall, and Wedgwood. There are numerous factories of china and earthenware, collieries, brick and tile works, &amp;c.; and several blast-furnaces have been established for smelting iron-ore, by Thomas Kinnersly, Esq. The Grand Trunk canal passes through the parish on its summit level, and runs northward in two parallel tunnels, under Harecastle Hill. Sir Nigel Gresley's canal, also, from the Apedale collieries and iron-furnaces to Newcastle, crosses the west part of the parish. The living is a vicarage, in the gift of Ralph Sneyd, Esq.: the impropriate rectory is valued in the king's books at £32. 3. 9. The tithes have been commuted for £896 payable to Mr. Sneyd, and £348 payable to the vicar, who has a glebe of 34 acres, with a house. The church is an ancient structure, and contains a curious monument to the memory of Sir William Sneyd, of Bradwell, with others to members of the same family: being seated on an eminence, its lofty spire forms a conspicuous feature in the surrounding country. There are other incumbencies at Chesterton, Golden-Hill, Kidsgrove, Mowcop, New-Chapel, and Tunstall; also several dissenters' places of worship. The union of Wolstanton and Burslem comprises those two places, and contains a population of 32,669.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 643-649. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51422 Date accessed: 03 April 2011.

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.

See Staffordshire BMD

Church records
Wolstanton St Margaret was an extensive Ancient Parish which formed subsequent ecclesiatical parishes

Deposited parish registers at Staffordshire Record Office Bap 1628-1966 Mar 1628-1953 Bur 1628-1952 early registers include some BT's Lichfield Record Office holdings of Bishop's Transcripts Bap 1662-1881 Mar 1662-1837 (missing marriages 1826-1827) Bur 1662-1881

Contributor: 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

Poor Law Unions
Wolstanton and Burslem Poor Law Union, Staffordshire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire 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
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.