Astley Bridge, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Astley Bridge St Paul is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1844 from Little_Bolton_All_Saints,_Lancashire Ecclesiastical Parish and  Bolton_le_Moors_St_Peter,_Lancashire Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Sharples.

St. Paul’s, built in 1847-8, was consecrated by the first Bishop of Manchester, James Prince Lee on the 22nd June 1848.

ASTLEY-BRIDGE, an ecclesiastical parish, in the parish and union of Bolton, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 1½ mile (N.) from Bolton, on the roads to Blackburn and Belmont; containing 2325 inhabitants. This parish was formed in 1844, out of the townships of Little Bolton and Sharples, under the act of the 6th and 7th of Victoria, cap. 37. It comprises 1468 acres, the rivers Astle and Eagle forming its southern and eastern boundary. The population is chiefly employed in bleach-works and cotton-mills. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Chester, alternately; net income, £150. The church, dedicated to St. Paul, was erected in 1847, at a cost of £3000, raised by subscription aided by public grants: the body of the edifice is in the Norman style; and the tower, surmounted by a spire, is early English. The Wesleyans have a place of worship; and there are some national schools.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 100-104. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50767 Date accessed: 25 June 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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

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

Poor Law Unions
Bolton, Lancashire Poor Law Union

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
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