Grimsargh, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Grimsargh is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1717 from Preston_St_Wilfrid,_Lancashire Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Elston, Brockholes, and Brockhole.

The town formed a parish in 1875 within the area known as Brockholes, which became one part of the much larger Amounderness hundred, in which Preston was also included.

Oliver Cromwell's Roundhead army came through Grimsargh en route to what is now Walton-le-Dale in Preston, on what became known as the Battle of Preston on 17 August 1648.

The name Grimsargh is said to derive from an Old Norse name Grímr with Norse erg. One reference lists it as coming from the Domesday Book's Grimesarge, "at the temple of Grimr" (a name for Odin).

Grimsargh St Michael was restored in 1868 at a cost of £3,000, defrayed by the Rev. Canon John Cross. The register dates from the year 1854.

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.

GRIMSARGH, with Brockholes, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Preston, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 4 miles (N. E.) from Preston, on the road to Clitheroe; containing 331 inhabitants. Under the first duke of Lancaster, William de Eton held the town of "Grymesargh" by the service of three shillings per annum; and at the same time (reign of Henry III.) Roger de Etheleston was a tenant in the town by the like service of three shillings per annum. The manorial rights were long vested in the family of Hoghton, and were sold by Sir Henry Philip Hoghton, Bart., to the late William Cross, Esq., of Red Scar. The township, of which the river Ribble forms the southern boundary, comprises 1912 acres of land. The Preston and Longridge and the Fleetwood railways pass through it. Mrs. Cross, of Red Scar (an elegant modern mansion in the Elizabethan style, erected by Mr. Cross); James Blanchard, Esq., of Grimsargh House; and John Frederick Chadwick, Esq., of the Hermitage, are the chief proprietors. The living is a perpetual curacy, net income, £77, with a house; patron, the Vicar of Preston. The tithes have been commuted for £50. 13. 3. payable to the impropriators, and £6. 10. to the vicar. The chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, was consecrated in 1726; and was restored, and coloured-glass windows inserted, in 1844, at the expense of Mr. John Cross. A school is supported by subscription. The Preston Water-works Company have a reservoir here of twenty acres.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 340-343. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50991 Date accessed: 01 July 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.

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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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