Rochdale St Chad, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



See a Comprehensive List of Rochdale Chapelries

'''Part of this parish is in Yorkshire. See also Rochdale St Chad, Yorkshire.'''

Parish History
ROCHDALE St Chad, a borough, market-town, and parish, and the head of a union, chiefly in the hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, but partly in the Upper division of the wapentake of Agbrigg, W. riding of York, 10½ miles north by northeast of Manchester.

Rochdale St Chad Parish, with nearly a hundred thousand inhabitants by 1851, was not the only church built to serve its population. Because of its large population, St Chad's boundary was divided up into numerous chapelry districts, each with is own chapel of ease (or church) attached to it and serving within its parish boundary, depending on the time period (a total of nearly 20). Be certain to see the Comprehensive List of Rochdale Chapelries in order to identify its chapels and the availability of all their registers which covered this very populous ancient parish. Identifying all of St Chad's chapels will greatly faclitate thorough research in this populous parish.

For a list of other places within the boundary of this parish, view an excellent 1870 historical summary of Rochdale at VisionofBritain.

Cemeteries
The Family History Library's British collection has.

Civil Registration of Births, Marriages &amp; Deaths - 1837 to the Present
Read about England Civil Registration (vital records) of birth, marriages and deaths on the England main page.

Online Indexes

There are two separate (free) indexes available for Lancashire civil registration of births, marriages and deaths. One index covers all registrations nation-wide, and one index covers the copies of the local registration district office's certificate copies for all registration districts throughout Lancashire, as follows:


 * FreeBMD - an online (free) index to the certificates held at the General Registrar's Office, formerly in London, now in Solihull, Merseyside, UK. The years currently covered in this index include July, 1837 to at least 1940.
 * LancashireBMD - an online index (free) to the local superintendant's registrar of births, marriages and deaths for all registration districts throughout Lancashire, for the following range of years and their events: births 1837-1974; marriages 1837-2010; deaths 1837-1975.
 * Lancashire-OPC.org.uk provides numerous parish and chapel transcriptions online (free) for the post-1837 to 1910 period.

Indexes

FamilySearch's Family History Library from July, 1837 to 1983 in microform media.

Church Records
St Chad Rochdale parish has been a very populated township possessing about 20 or more chapelries, and district churches each with church registers. Currently, only a few church registers have been transcribed and published online. These are at the following web sites:


 * FamilySearch (has indexed the following church or chapel registers):

- Rochdale St Chad Chrs 1582-1802; Marriages 1582-1801 - Butterworth Milnrow - bapts 1715-1851; burials 1799-1849 -  -  - Friezeland - 1849 - nil - Healey - 1847 - nil -  (partly also in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne) - Littleborough - 1741 - nil - Lydgate St Marys - 1788 - nil -  - Smallbridge - 1834 - nil - Spotland St Clement - 1835 - nil -  - Todmorden Christ Church - 1832 - nil - Tunstead Holy Trinity - Bapts 1842 - Walsden - 1845 - nil - Wardleworth St James - 1821 - nil - Wardle with Wuerdle St John (see Smallbridge) - nil - Wardleworth St Mary the Baum – 1747 - nil - Whitworth - 1753 - nil


 * Lancashire Online Parish Clerk:

- Rochdale St Chad with St Mary - bapts 1582-1835; marrs 1582-1898; burials 1582-1896 - Butterworth Milnrow - bapts 1715-1851; burials 1799-1849 - Dobcross - 1787 - nil - Friarmere - 1767 - nil - Friezeland - 1849 - nil - Healey - 1847 - nil - Lees - 1743 - nil (partly also in the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne) - Littleborough - 1741 - nil - Lydgate St Marys - 1788 - nil - Saddleworth - 1612 - nil - Smallbridge - 1834 - nil - Spotland St Clement - 1835 - nil - Todmorden - 1625 - nil - Todmorden Christ Church - 1832 - nil - Tunstead Holy Trinity - Bapts 1843-1848 - Walsden - 1845 - nil - Wardleworth St James - 1821 - nil - Wardle with Wuerdle St John (see Smallbridge) - nil - Wardleworth St Mary the Baum – 1747 - nil - Whitworth - bapts 1758-1851; burials 1784-1851

FamilySearch has microfilm copies of the original Bishop's transcripts and/or parish registers for most of Rochdale's chapels of ease and churches (above).&lt;br&gt;

Census
The following web sites provide online census transcriptions with scanned images ($) for Hawkeshead Parish:

Ancestry.co.uk

FindMyPast.com

Poor Law Unions
Rochdale Parish was the head of a poor law union.

Probate records with indexes are available for Hawkshead Parish
Go to the Lancashire Probate Records and follow the step by step instructions to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction and search the records.

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
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.

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
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

Parish registers for St. Chad's, Rochdale, 1592-1900 Microfilm of original records in possession of the Manchester Public Libraries.Microfilm purchased from the Rochdale Central Library, Rochdale, Lancashire.Baptisms for the chapelries of Littleborough, Whitworth, and the parish of St. Mary's Wardleworth are separate for some years.

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks Project
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Rochdale/index.html is a useful resource and contains transcripts of Births, marriages and Burials from the parish registers

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

Poor Law Unions
Rochdale 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
Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53027 British History online