Aldingham, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

See a List of Chapelries in Aldingham Parish.



Parish History
Aldingham St Cuthbert is an Ancient Parish in the county of Lancashire. Part of the Diocese of Chester until 1847 when it passed to the Diocese of Carlisle as part of the Furness deanery. Other places in the parish include: Gleaston, Birkrig Common, and Leece.

At the centre of the present village, now on the shores of the Bay, is St Cuthbert's Church. An inscription in Durham Cathedral gives the names of several places in the area, including Aldingham, where the body of Saint Cuthbert rested when the Saxons were fleeing from the Danes. It is known that during his life, Cuthbert held lands around Cartmel, on the neighbouring peninsula across the Leven Estuary, although it is not known if those possessions extended this far west.

The building dates from the mid 12th century, with extensions being made to the chancel in the 13th century, the addition of the tower in 1350 and extensive restoration taking place in the 19th century and again in 1932. In the eastern wall of the chancel is a hole about 5 inches (130 mm) by 3 inches (76 mm) that goes right through the wall: it is believed this would once have been a place for local lepers to view the church services without having to enter the building.

"ALDINGHAM St Cuthbert, a parish, in the union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the County of Lancaster, 5¾ miles south of Ulverston."

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.

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
An extremely valuable and useful resource for research in Lancashire parish and chapelry registers is the Lancashire Online Parish Clerk project at 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
Ulverston 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

Web sites
http://www.explorelowfurness.co.uk/stcuthbert.htm For detailed history of the church

http://www.carlislediocese.org.uk/churches/deaneries/furness/7030.html Diocese of Carlisle website