Didsbury, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Chapelry History
DIDSBURY, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Manchester, union of Chorlton, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 5½ miles (S.) from Manchester; containing 5008 inhabitants, of whom 1248 are in the township of Didsbury. This chapelry, which is separated from Cheshire by the river Mersey, consists of the townships of Didsbury, Heaton-Norris, Burnage, and Withington; and comprises about 6190 acres, whereof 1560 are in Didsbury. The village lies on the road from Manchester to Congleton. A spinning, weaving, and bleaching manufactory, called Heaton-Mersey mills, employs about 1000 hands. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £188; patron, James Darwell, Esq.; appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Manchester. The glebe contains 141/5 Lancashire acres, situated in the parish of Flixton. The chapel is dedicated to St. James, and is a very ancient structure, erected at different periods; it was repaired in 1620, when the tower was also rebuilt: there are several monuments to members of the families of Mosley and Bland, and a very interesting one to the family of Sir Nicolas Mosley, who was lord mayor of London about the year 1673. At Heaton-Norris is the old living of St. Thomas'. A church has lately been erected at Withington, to which the townships of Withington and Burnage have been assigned as a district; and another church has just been built at Heaton-Mersey, to which that part of the township of Heaton-Norris has been attached. The Wesleyans have a place of worship at Withington, and in the village of Didsbury a theological institution, adapted for 40 students. The building of the institution has an ornamental stone front, and retiring wings, forming three sides of a quadrangle; the centre part was the mansion of the late Col. Parker: attached are ten acres of land, beautifully laid out. Among the other places of worship is one at Heaton-Mersey for Independents, who have a college at Withington. Schools are supported by subscription, aided by a small endowment. The registers record the interment here of some officers of the royalist and parliamentary armies.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 46-55. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50919 Date accessed: 29 June 2010.

Didsbury Christ Church is an Eccelesiastical Parish created in1727 from a chapelry within Manchester Our Lady, St George and St Denys, Lancashire Ancient Parish.

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

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

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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