Kirkham, Lancashire Genealogy

Guide to Kirkham, Lancashire ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Here is A Comprehensive List of Kirkham Parishes and Chapelries.

Parish History
KIRKHAM (St Michael), a market-town and parish, in the union of the Fylde, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of the county of Lancaster west by north of Preston. Other places in the parish include: Whittingham, Wharles, Brown Moss, Bryning with Kellamergh, Esprick, Great Plumpton, Greehalgh with Thistleton, Greenalgh with Thistleton, Greenhalgh, Larbreck, Little Eccleston, Little Eccleston with Larbreck, Little Ecclestone with Larbrick, Little Plumpton, Medlar with Wesham, Newsham, Newton with Scales, Roseacre, Roseacre and Wharles, Thistleton, Treals, Treals, Roseacre and Wharles, Westby, Westby with Plumpton, Westby with Plumptons, and Ballam.

The earliest evidence of a church on the site is in 684 AD. The fabric of the present church dates from 1822 when the nave, designed by Robert Roper, an architect from Preston, was built. In 1844 the tower and spire, designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe, were added at the west end. In 1853 the chancel was rebuilt, probably by Joseph Hansom, to make the altar visible from the nave. The north and south galleries were removed in the middle of the 20th century and the area under the west gallery has been turned into a separate room. In 2004 it was discovered that the spire had developed structural problems because the iron ties reinforcing the stones had corroded. An appeal to repair the spire was launched and the work is now complete.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

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.

Online index of Lancashire Births, Marriages and Deaths Lancashire BMD

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Chapelry is a church or churches built in a large ecclesiastical parish to help the members attend worship services closer to their homes.

Poor Law Unions
Fylde Poor Law Union, Lancashire

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.

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