Wistaston, Cheshire Genealogy

England Cheshire  Wistaston

Parish History
Wistaston, Saint Mary is an Ancient Parish in Cheshire.

It is believed that there has been a church or chapel on or near the present site for nearly 700 years. The first record of a rector goes back to 1379. The first church on the site would have been a wooden building. The existing records start in 1572. In 1827 the decision was taken that "due to decay it [the church] was unsuitable for public worship". The present church was built in 1827–28 to a design by George Latham. The chancel was lengthened and a transept was added in 1884. Further alterations were made in 1905.

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

 * Nantwich (1837–1937)
 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton and Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire Central (post 1998)

Registration events may be searched online at Cheshire BMD

Church records
To find the names of the neighboring 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 Wistaston, 1572-1956 Cheshire Record Office call number: P74/1/1-4, P74/2/1-2, P74/3/1-4, P74/4, P74/5/1-2, P74/2985/1/2. Records may be found online at Record Search.

Bishop's transcripts Wistaston, 1593-1882 Records are not filmed in strict chronological order. Some intermittent years are missing.Cheshire Record Office number: EDB/224 Records may be found on Record Search

Non-Conformist Churches
Wistaston, Methodist Chapel. Built in 1945, rebuilt in 1967.

Census records
Contributor: 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.

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

 * Nantwich

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.