Overton, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Parish History
Overton St Helen is an ancient parochial chapel created in the late 13th century. It stands in the boundaries of Lancaster St Mary ancient parish. Other places in the parish include: Sunderland, Heaton with Oxcliffe, Middleton, and Saltmarshes.

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

Here is an 1848 historical perspective of Overton by the topographer, Samuel A. Lewis:

"OVERTON, a township chapelry, in the parish and union of Lancaster, hundred of Lonsdale south of the Sands, N. division of Lancashire, 4½ miles southwest of Lancaster. The parochial chapelry of Overton [built by 1678] comprises the townships of Overton, Middleton, and Heaton with Oxcliffe."

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
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

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

Poor Law Unions
Lancaster Poor Law Union,Lancashire

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