Northenden, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire Cheshire Parishes   Northenden



Parish History
Northenden St. Wilfrid is an ancient parish in Cheshire including Etchells and Northen Etchells. Norwordine (North clearing) may have been a Saxon settlement and the dedication to Saint Wilfrid the 8th century Bishop of York may suggest that he visitied the place.

Northenden is now a suburb in South Manchester, and is administratively within Wythenshawe. It was formerly a Cheshire village, which was taken into Manchester in the 1930s.

The first record of the village is in the Domesday Book (1086), in which the church is mentioned, though the manor is described as vasta ~ devastated. In the 17th century the village was the scene of a Civil War incident: the Rector of the time, Thomas Mallory, kept a diary, and records being woken to the sound of smashing glass as a detachment of Parliamentary troops occupied the village prior to besieging Robert Tatton, the Royalist squire, in his Hall of Withinshaw. Mallory was displaced by the Parliamentarians in favour of Henry Dunster, who is described on his gravestone (now in the churchyard) as a “most diligent pastor”. When Dunster died in 1662 Mallory was reinstated.

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

 * Altrincham (1837–98)
 * Bucklow (1898–1936) Succeeded by Trafford,Macclesfield, Warrington and Manchester districts on abolition. Registration events may be searched online at Cheshire BMD

Church records
Northenden parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

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.

Parish registers for Northen, 1561-1914 Northenden is most often called Northen. Manchester Archives Central Library call numbers: M 340/1/1/1-3, 5; M 340/1/2/2-3; M 340/1/4/1-4; M 340/1/5.

Bishop's transcripts of Northenden, 1608-1877

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s Transcripts is available online in Family Search Historical records (formerly Record Search).

Northenden is referred to as Northen. Cheshire Record Office no.: EDB/158 Records are not arranged in strict chronological order. Some intermittent years are missing.

Non-Conformist Churches

 * Northenden, St. Hilda (Roman Catholic). Built in 1901.
 * Northenden, Gospel Mission Hall. Built in 1886.
 * Northenden, Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). Built in 1828, rebuilt in 1886.

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

 * Altrincham (1836–95)
 * Bucklow (1895–1930)
 * Altrincham (renamed Bucklow) Poor Law Union, Cheshire

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