Longridge, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes

Chapelry History
Longridge is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1727 from Ribchester,_Lancashire Ancient Parish.See also List_of_Chapelries_in_the_Parish_of_Ribchester Other places in the parish include: Dilworth and Alston.

Longridge is a small town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is situated 8 miles (13 km) north-east of the city of Preston, at the western end of Longridge Fell, a long ridge above the River Ribble. Its nearest neighbours are Grimsargh and the Roman town of Ribchester (Bremetennacum), 3.5 miles (6 km) to the southeast.

The Battle of Preston started from Longridge, Cromwell halting there before taking on Monarchist forces from Scotland.[citation needed]

Longridge initially developed outwards from an area around St. Lawrence's Church, at the boundary of the townships of Dilworth and Alston and to the south of the modern-day town centre. Though there was a thoroughfare called 'Market Place', there was no development around that area. Most of the development of the town occurred after 1800.] After this time, development occurred at a much faster pace, with expansion northwards including a mill to the north of Kestor Lane.

The demand for stone from Longridge's quarries led to the opening of the Preston and Longridge Railway in 1840 to carry the stone away, for use in such places as Lancaster Town Hall and Liverpool Docks. The arrival of the railway led to the opening of several cotton mills and the town grew considerably larger from the mid-19th century. The mills and quarries have now all closed, although stone quarried in the town was used to construct the M55 motorway in the 1970s. One of the quarries was used as Longridge motor-racing circuit between 1973 and 1978. Longridge railway station closed to passengers in 1930, and the railway was dismantled in 1967.

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.

LONGRIDGE, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of Ribchester, union of Preston, Lower division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 7 miles (N. E.) from Preston; containing 1752 inhabitants. The chapelry comprises 3215 acres, whereof 1989 are in Alston township, and 1226 in Dilworth township; it is chiefly meadow and pasture land, and cultivation has been carried by human industry even to the elevated region of Longridge Fell. There are fine views of Pendle hill, the Yorkshire range, Whalley, Billington Fells, Preston, the vale of the Ribble, Lytham, Southport, Morecambe bay, &amp;c. On Tootle Height are the celebrated "Delphs," quarries of valuable stone, affording employment to several hundred masons and others, and which have supplied stone for great works at Liverpool, Preston, and Fleetwood, for Fulwood barracks, and other considerable public buildings. Weaving by hand-loom is carried on. The river Ribble passes on the east, and the road from Clitheroe to Preston runs through the chapelry; there is also a railway to Preston, seven miles long, and on a slope the whole way, for the conveyance of the stone. A festival, or guild, is held on St. Lawrence's day; and fairs on March 16th, April 16th, the Monday preceding HolyThursday, and Nov. 5th, for cattle, pedlery, &amp;c. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £160, with a house; patrons, the Trustees of the estates of William Hulme. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, and in the early English style, was erected in 1716, and enlarged in 1783; a square tower was added in 1841. Schools are supported by subscription, and there is a Roman Catholic chapel. Here was an hospital for a master and brethren, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Our Saviour.—See Alston and Dilworth.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 172-175. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51119 Date accessed: 19 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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