Penwortham, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Here is a List of Chapelries in Penwortham Parish



Parish History
Penwortham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Lancashire. Other places in the parish include: Hutton and Howick.

Penwortham is a town and civil parish on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the River Ribble, with major road and rail links crossing here.

The distinctive town name is derived from pen (meaning a hill), weid (meaning ford) and ham (meaning settlement) with earlier names of Peneverdant and Pendrecham in 1200; Penwrtham in 1204; Penuertham in 1212; Penwortham 1260 and Penewrthamn in 1292.

The town of Penwortham is part of the Borough of South Ribble and its history can be traced back to pre-historic times with archaeological evidence showing that the ford at the Middleforth area was used to cross the Ribble. Penwortham was listed in the Domesday Book as "Penverdent" and Penwortham Priory was built in the west of the town. A simple motte-and-bailey castle was built during the post-Norman conquest period overlooking the Ribble and its ford. Some evidence of this castle is still evident in St Mary's Churchyard. In later centuries a manor house was built, but no evidence remains today.

The present church was built on the site after the loss through fire in 1856 of the ancient St Mary.

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.

"PENWORTHAM St Mary, a parish, in the union of Preston, hundred of Leyland, N. division of Lancashire; containing, with the chapelry of Longton, and the townships of Farington, Howick, and Hutton, 1¾ mile southwest of Preston. At Farington and Longton are separate chapels laying within the this parish.

In Penwortham is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists."

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. The place of Marriage is listed on this website.

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely useful resource for research in Lancashire Parishes http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/

Due to the loss of early parish registers from 1538 in the 1856 fire which destroyed the church the Online Parish Clerk Index is recommended.

See Online Parish Clerk page for missing years.

Church records
Online Records

Penwortham St Mary's parish registers and those registers of its smaller chapelries lying within its boundaries have been mostly transcribed and are displayed online at the web sites below and for the following ranges of years:

Original Records

The original parish registers of Penwortham and its chapelries are held at the Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston, PR1 2RE. Bishop's transcripts for Penwortham Microfilm of originals at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Parts are illegible due to torn pages, dark spots, faded ink. Longton and Farrington are chapelries in the parish of Penwortham. DRB 2/157-162

Copies of the Penwortham St Mary's parish registers are also available on microfilm at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A. and its satellite FamilySearch Centers worldwide. These films can be ordered for and searched these facilities, serving the public.

Early records for this parish were lost in the fire of 1856 which also destroyed the church. Lancashire Online Parish Clerks have transcript derived from Bishop's Trancripts which were originally held at Chester Record Office.

Microfilmed Church Records at the Family History Library for this parish (see the catalog online for chapelry registers):

Penwortham baptisms, marriages, burials, 1608, 1616, 1623, 1627, 1629-1634, 1637, 1639-1641, 1650, 1658-1660, 1662-1665, 1668-1670, 1672, 1674-1676, 1678-1682, 1690-1706, 1708-1740. Included with Penwortham: Longton baptisms, 1733-1735, 1737. FHL BRITISH Film 1502456 Item 1 Penwortham baptisms, marriages, burials, 1741-1793. Included with Penwortham: Longton baptisms, 1754-1766, 1771-1772, 1774, 1776-1777. Longton baptisms, 1779-1793. FHL BRITISH Film 1502456 Item 2 Penwortham baptisms, marriages, burials, 1794-1813, 1815-1816. Included with Penwortham: Longton baptisms, 1812-1813, 1815-1816. Longton baptisms, 1794-1811. FHL BRITISH Film 1502456 Item 3 Penwortham baptisms, marriages, burials, 1817-1834. Longton baptisms, burials, 1817-1834. FHL BRITISH Film 1502457 Items 1 - 2 Penwortham baptisms, marriages, burials, 1835-1837, 1870; baptism, burials, 1838-1855, 1857-1869, 1871-1873. Included with Penwortham: Farrington baptisms, 1842. Longton baptisms, burials, 1848-1852. Farrington baptisms, burials, 1840-1845. FHL BRITISH Film 1502458 Items 1 - 2

Parish registers for Penwortham Microfilm of original records at the Lancashire Record Office, Preston. Lancashire Record Office no.: PR 3005/1/1-3, 7; 3005/2/1-3

Baptisms 1857-1900 Marriages 1857-1885 FHL BRITISH Film 1526058 Items 17-18 Marriages 1885-1900 Burials 1857-1900 Register of services 1872-1900 FHL BRITISH Film 1526059 Items 1-5

Marriages 1 July1837 and later can be obtained through Civil Registration either through www.LancashireBMD.org.uk or www.gro.gov.uk references can be found at www.freeBMD.org.uk. The actual place of marriage is list at www.LancashireBMD.org.uk. These marriage records are exactly what the parish register would contain.

Birth and Death certificates can also be obtained for people who were born and died in Penwortham parish post 1-July 1837. This is another type of document to compensate for the loss of Church Records

Poor Law Unions
Preston 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