Briercliffe, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Briercliffe St James is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1843 from Burnley_St_Peter,_Lancashire Ecclesiastical Parish.

The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created in 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The Diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, and the cities of Lancaster, and Preston, as well as a large part of the Ribble Valley.

BRIERCLIFFE, with Extwistle, a township, in the parochial chapelry [as of 1841] and poor law union of Burnley, parish of Whalley, Higher division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 2½ miles (N. E.) from Burnley; containing 1498 inhabitants. This place belonged to the De Lacys, one of whom obtained from Henry III. a charter for free warren in "Brerecleve;" and in this king's reign, the canons of Neubo held land in "Extwysell." Monk Hall, in the township, is supposed to take its name from a family, sometimes called Le Moin and sometimes De Monkys, who resided here as early as the time of Edward III. After the Dissolution, the Bradhills, and subsequently the Parkers, were proprietors. The township comprises 2577 acres of inclosed land, exclusive of commons: the surface is uneven, bordering upon the mountainous, with a wet soil; the prospects are very extensive. There are coal-mines, at present not wrought; and stone is obtained in abundance. The Cockden water passes through the township. The population is employed in hand-loom weaving, chiefly at their own homes. The greater part of the township belongs to Robert Townley Parker, Esq., of Cuerden Hall, near Preston. A district church, dedicated to St. James, was built in 1840, at a cost of £1500; it is a neat edifice in the early English style, and is a conspicuous object for many miles round. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Hulme's Trustees; net income, £150, with a parsonage-house built in 1847. There are places of worship for dissenters. The remains of Extwistle Hall, the old family seat of the Parkers, still exist; and vestiges may be traced of a Roman camp.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 369-375. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50829 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.

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
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Web sites
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