Whitewell, Lancashire Genealogy

England   Lancashire   Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
WHITEWELL, a chapelry, in the parish of Whalley, union of Clitheroe, partly in the W. division of the wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewcross, W. riding of York, and partly in the Lower division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire, 7 miles (N. W. by W.) from Clitheroe; containing 603 inhabitants. This chapelry, which is situated on the river Hodder, forms a beautiful valley surrounded by hills and mountains, and comprises about 8000 acres; the surface is boldly varied, and the scenery enriched with wood. The lands are mostly pasture, divided into farms of from 100 to 300 acres; the soil is various, consisting of sand, marl, clay, and peat-moss, resting chiefly on limestone, and there is a bed of calamine, but not at present worked. The Hodder is here celebrated for its trout, and is a favourite resort; an inn affords every accommodation for families. The Roman Watling-street passes through the chapelry, and some remains exist of a Roman camp. The chapel was rebuilt in 1817, partly by a rate and partly by subscription, and is in the style that prevailed in the reign of Henry VII.; the pulpit is of oak, and of great antiquity, and there is an old font: a gallery was erected in 1825. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Hulme Trustees; net income, £100, arising chiefly from land left by Robert Parker, son of Edward Parker, Esq., of Browsholme, about the year 1700.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 551-555. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51399 Date accessed: 03 August 2010.

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.

Church records
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Census records
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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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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