Portwood, Cheshire Genealogy

Guide to Portwood, Cheshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Portwood is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Cheshire, created in 1844 from Stockport [St Mary] Ancient Parish.

Parish History
There are two gazetteer entries with slightly different information:

PORTWOOD, is a chapelry in Stockport parish, Cheshire; on the River Mersey at the boundary with Lancashire and within Stockport borough. It was constituted in 1844; and its post town is Stockport. There is a small place of worship for Methodists.

Church records
Portwood St Paul 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.

Here is a list of parish registers on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Parish registers for Chapelry of Portwood, 1851-1971 Cheshire Record Office call no.: P229/3397/1/1-5, 2/1-10, 3/1-4.

Parish register transcripts, 1866-1897 Microfilm copy of original records in the Stockport Central Library, Stockport, Cheshire.

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Stockport has numerous churches and chapels. The principal faiths include:


 * Stockport, Our Lady and the Apostles (Roman Catholic), Edgeley Road. Founded 1799, rebuilt in 1905.
 * Stockport, St. Joseph (Roman Catholic), Tatton Street. Founded 1851, the present church was built in 1862. Registers of baptisms 1862–1912, marriages 1863–1934 and burials 1862–1905 are at the Cheshire Record Office.
 * Stockport, St. Michael (Roman Catholic). Registers of baptisms 1851–1895, marriages 1856–1882 and burials 1863–1866 are at the Cheshire Record Office.
 * Stockport, St. Ambrose (Roman Catholic), Adswood Road. Founded 1939.
 * Stockport, Friends' Meeting House (Quakers), Lower Hillgate. Built in 1705.
 * Stockport, United Reform Church (Hanover Chapel) (Independent/Congregational). Records of baptisms 1816–1961 are at the Cheshire Record Office.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from 1 July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. Here are two excellent Internet sites with birth, marriage and death indexes available:


 * FreeBMD
 * Cheshire BMD

Registration Districts

 * Stockport

Poor Law Unions

 * For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk


 * Stockport

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.

See also England Cheshire Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Websites
Portwood (see Brinnington) on GENUKI