Stafford St Mary, Staffordshire Genealogy

Parish History
Stafford St Mary is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Staffordshire. Other places in the parish include: Hopton and Coton.

The living of St. Mary's is a rectory not in charge, in the patronage of the Crown: net income, £401. The church, formerly collegiate for a dean and thirteen prebendaries, is an ancient and spacious cruciform structure in the early English style, with a lofty octagonal tower rising from the intersection, the upper part of which is of later date; the north entrance has delicate shafts and bold hollows, embellished with flowers and foliage. The interior is beautifully arranged. The piers and arches are of the early English, passing into the decorated style, and to the east of the transepts diminish gradually in height; the windows are generally in the decorated style, intermixed with others of the later English, of which the east window is an elegant specimen. The chancel is spacious, and the roof supported on finelypointed arches, and piers of clustered columns; in the north transept is the font, a work of great beauty, highly ornamented with sculptured figures and animals. There are many ancient and modern monuments, among which the most conspicuous are those of the family of Aston, of Tixall. The church in 1844 underwent a thorough course of external and internal restoration, at an expense of £11,000, of which £5000 were the gift of Jesse Watts Russell, Esq., of flam Hall, who also gave four painted windows which cost £1000; the remaining £5000 were raised by subscription under the auspices of the Rev. W. E. Coldwell, the rector. Attached to St. Mary's is a curacy, endowed by Queen Elizabeth, and now producing £170 per annum.

A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 164-170. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51293 Date accessed: 07 April 2011.

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.

See Staffordshire BMD

Church records
Stafford St Mary Ancient Parish

Deposited parish registers at Staffordshire Record Office Bap 1559-1980 Mar 1559-1984 Bur 1559-1984 Lichfield Record Office holdings of Bishop's Transcripts Bap 1674-1868 Mar 1674- 1851 Bur1674-1867

Stafford St Chad, Staffordshire and other district churches and mission churches were fromed from the parish

Stafford St Bertelin was built in 1856 as a mission church and is now a district Church

Deposited parish registers at Staffordshire Record Office Bap 1958-1989 Mar 1971-1990 Bur none

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
Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Stafford Poor Law Union

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire 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.