Westleigh St Paul, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Westleigh St Paul is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1851 from Leigh,_Lancashire Ancient Parish.

WESTLEIGH, a township, in the parish and union of Leigh, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 1½ mile (N. N. W.) from the town of Leigh, on the road to Wigan; containing 3005 inhabitants. A family of the local name is mentioned in the reign of Richard I. The manor is found in the possession of the Urmstons, of Urmston, in the reign of Henry III., and appears to have continued in that family for several centuries. Richard Urmston, the last male, left three daughters, who intermarried with the Heatons, Shuttleworths, and Bradshavvs, by whom the estates were sold in the course of the last century, when the manorial rights passed to the Athertons, of Atherton, and the Hiltons, of Pennington. In 1797, Thomas Powys, first Lord Lilford, acquired one-fourth of the manor, and the remaining three-fourths subsequently became vested in the Hiltons, of Moston-House: the present Lord Lilford, and John Hall, Esq., are now joint lords. There is abundance of coal in the township. Messrs. Isherwood and Hayes have a large cotton-mill, established in 1835, and employing 400 hands; and here is also a flour-mill. Westleigh Hall is the property and residence of Richard Marsh, Esq. A chapel of ease, St. Paul's, of which the foundation stone was laid in June 1846, was consecrated in October, 1847. It is a handsome edifice in the decorated style, and stands on ground given by Lord Lilford, who also gave the greater part of the stone used in its erection; the cost was defrayed by subscription and public grants, aided by £500 left in November 1839 by a lady, who also bequeathed a sum towards the endowment. The chapel will eventually form a separate incumbency.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 517-519. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51390 Date accessed: 03 August 2010.

Civil Registration
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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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