Birkdale St James, Lancashire Genealogy

History
Birkdale probably takes its name from two Old Norse words, birki meaning "birch-copse" and dalr meaning "dale" or "valley" Birkdale is a village and district in the southern part of the conurbation of the town of Southport, within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, though historically in Lancashire, in the north-west of England. The village is located on the Irish Sea coast, approximately a mile away from the centre of its now parent town. From 1894 to 1912, Birkdale and the adjoining suburb/village of Ainsdale were administered by Birkdale Urban District Council before becoming part of the county borough of Southport. Until 1 April 1974, Birkdale lay in the traditional borders of the county of Lancashire.

Birkdale is home to the Royal Birkdale golf course and regularly hosts the Open Golf Championship. Red Rum the legendary racehorse who was trained by Ginger McCain had his stables in Upper Aughton Road in Birkdale, while a horse named after the village took part and finished tenth in the 2002 Grand National.

In connexion with the Established Church there are three places of worship in Birkdale. The earliest is St. James's, opened in 1857 (fn. 16) ; St. John's, at first a mission church in connexion with it, became a parish church in 1905; St. Peter's, preceded by a school-chapel in 1870, was consecrated in 1872. (fn. 17) The vicars are appointed by different bodies of trustees.

The Wesleyan Methodists have a large church in Aughton Road, called Wesley Chapel; there are also two mission chapels. The United Methodist Free Church has a place of worship. The Congregationalists acquired a building here in 1877.

There are two Roman Catholic churches, St. Joseph's, built in 1867, and St. Teresa's, opened in 1884. The convent of Notre Dame is served from the former.

'Townships: Birkdale', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3 (1907), pp. 236-238. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41327 Date accessed: 16 December 2010.

Civil registration
Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD and Free BMD

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

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

Poor Law Unions
Ormskirk Poor Law Union, Lancashire