Upton in Overchurch, Cheshire Genealogy

Guide to Upton in Overchurch, Cheshire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
UPTON, is a village and a parish in Wirral district, Cheshire. The village stands 4 miles West of Birkenhead railway station; and has a post-office under Birkenhead. The parish is sometimes called Overchurch.

Upton (Overchurch), St. Mary is the ancient parish church for Upton by Birkenhead in the Wirral Hundred of Cheshire.

Upton was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Optone and was written as being in the possession of William Malbank. Upton was the primary economic centre of northern Wirral until the industrial development of Birkenhead during the mid-19th century.

Upton was a township and parish in the Wirral Hundred, which included the nearby hamlet of Overchurch.

There is evidence of a church building at Overchurch from about 600 AD. A Runic Stone was discovered at Overchurch dating between 700-900 AD. The stone invited people to 'pray for Aethelmund'.

There followed a Norman church which was damaged by storms and destroyed by a fire in 1813.

A small chapel existed on Greenbank for a few years before the accelerating growth of population prompted the need for a larger church building.

Church Records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Upton (Overchurch), St. Mary (C of E). The ancient parish church for the township of Upton. Registers of Baptisms 1759–1936, Marriages 1755–1941 and Burials 1759–1837 have been deposited at the Cheshire Record Office, where Bishop's Transcripts survive from 1600. Microfilm copy of originals at the Cheshire Record Office in Chester, England. Upton parish is also known as Overchurch.Cheshire Record Office call number: P155/1, 2/1-2, 3/1-5, 4.

Bishop's transcripts for Upton, 1600-1892

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images
 * Upton, St. Joseph (Roman Catholic). Founded 1863.
 * Upton, Presbyterian Church, Ford Road. Built in 1898.

Non-Conformist Records:

Church records of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Upton, 1914-1940 Microfilm copy of originals at the Cheshire Record Office in Chester, England. Cheshire Record Office call no.: ERC 28/5473/1. Mostly Latin.

Baptisms, 1914-1940. VAULT BRITISH Film 2197776 Item 2

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from 1 July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. Here are two excellent Internet sites with birth, marriage and death indexes available:


 * FreeBMD
 * Cheshire BMD

Registration Districts

 * Wirral (1837–1937)

Poor Law Unions

 * Wirral

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Cheshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

See also England Cheshire Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Websites
Upton in Overchurch (see upton by Birkenhead) on GENUKI