Werneth, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Werneth St Thomas was created a district chapelry in 1844 from, and lying within the boundaries of Prestwich St Mary ancient parish. This district chapel was formed out of the township chapelry districts of Oldham St Mary, Lancashire, Hollinwood, Lancashire and Oldham St Peter, Lancashire.

"WERNETH, an ecclesiastical district, in the parochial chapelry and poor-law union of Oldham, parish of Prestwich, hundred of Salford, S. division of Lancashire, adjoining the town of Oldham. This place, anciently Fernet, was held in the reign of Henry III. by Alwardus de Aldholme, founder of the family of Oldham. His daughter and co-heiress conveyed the manor to the Cudworths, a branch of a Yorkshire family; and from them the estate passed by sale to Sir Ralph Assheton, of Middleton. It afterwards passed to the Listers; was purchased by Messrs. Parker and Sidebottom, of London, for £25,000; and by them was sold, in 1794, to the Lees family, of Oldham, for £30,000. John Frederick Lees, Esq., is the present lord. Werneth consists of about 100 acres; it abounds in the very best coal, and there are several good stone-quarries. The ecclesiastical district, which comprehends part of the town of Oldham, and part of the adjacent open country, was constituted in 1845, under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Manchester, alternately; income, £130. Divine service is for the present performed in a room licensed by the bishop. The Baptists have a place of worship."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 513-517. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51389 Date accessed: 03 August 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

Church records
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

Bishop's transcripts for Waterhead and Wernith, 1847-1896 Microreproduction of original manuscripts housed at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Bishop's transcripts from the chapelries of (Holy Trinity) Waterhead, Lancashire and Werneth (St. Thomas). Both are located near Oldham and are in the parish of Prestwich. Also contains three burials from the Society of Friends (Quakers) at Turf Lane End in Oldham.

Lancashire Record Office: DRM/2/150a

Census records
Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Oldham Poor Law Union

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
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
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