Henbury St Thomas, Cheshire Genealogy

History
Henbury St thomas was created as a parish from Prestbury Ancient parish as a result of concerns about the conduct of people in the area.

John Bird Sumner, Lord Bishop of Chester, consecrated the Church in 1845 and it was built in Henbury at the instigation of Thomas Marsland who acquired Henbury Hall in 1842. At that time the local area contained some pretty unsavoury characters and had ".....long born an evil reputation, and was a colony of poachers and lawless men." He decided that a church was needed and gave £800 to the building fund, the stained glass windows, a clock for the tower and £1000 to endow the living while his wife funded the organ. The total cost was about £1600. The bell, weighing 7 cwts. and costing £40.8s, is much older than the Church being about 500 years old and came from a peal in Aldford Parish Church near Chester. The Church is made of local stone, accommodates 200 and nowadays serves a partly suburban part of macclesfield partly rural area.

Church Records
Prestbury, St. Peter (C of E). The ancient parish church for the township of Henbury cum Pexall. Henbury, St. Thomas (C of E). Founded 1845 as the parish church for Henbury cum Pexall. Registers of Baptisms 1845–1968, Marriages 1869–1977 and Burials 1845–1956 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office.

Parish registers for St. Thomas, Henbury, Cheshire, 1845-1981 Cheshire Record Office call number: P253/1.

Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1845-1871. FHL BRITISH Film 1656723 Item 7 Baptisms, 1871-1956. Marriages, 1869-1955. FHL BRITISH Film 2106997 Items 12 - 14 Burials, 1845-1956. Register of graves, 1907-1981. FHL BRITISH Film 2106998 Items 1 - 3