Witton, Cheshire Genealogy

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

Parish History
WITTON, is a township and parochial chapelry, in the parish of Great Budworth, union of Northwich, South division of the county of Chester, ¼ of a mile E from Northwich. The chapelry lies partly in Eddisbury hundred, and partly in that of Northwich. In the former are the townships of Castle-Northwich, Hartford , and Winnington ; in the latter, those of Witton-cum- Twambrooks , Northwich , Birches , Hulse , Lach-Dennis , and Lostock Gralam.

Witton, St. Helen was an ancient chapelry in Great Budworth parish, originally serving the townships of Birches, Castle Northwich, Hartford (part), Hulse, Lach Dennis, Lostock Gralam, Northwich, Winnington and Witton cum Twambrooks.

The church was originally a chapel of ease to St Mary and All Saints, Great Budworth and the area was then known as Witton. The present building dates from the 14th century, with additions in the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries. A tradition that Witton had a chapel as early as the 13th century cannot be verified, but by the mid-14th century a church (technically a chapel of ease) stood on the present site.

Gradually this evolved into the church as it is today. North and south aisles, narrower than those currently present, were added in the 15th century. The present porch however is certainly no earlier than 1500 and possibly much later: an inscription on its beam commemorates a substantial repair in 1756.

The aisles were rebuilt and widened between 1536 and 1549, bringing what had been a side chapel (now the Lady Chapel) into the body of the church. The chancel was embattled soon after 1624, when Thomas Farmer, the master of Witton Grammar School left money for the purpose in his will.

Although there have since been further changes to the interior (including the addition of screens at the east end of the aisles and new coloured glass windows), by the 1890s the church looked much as it does today. It formally became a parish church when "the District Chapelry of St Helen Witton, otherwise Northwich", came into being on 7 August 1900.

Church Records
Witton parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials have been indexed by the following groups:

Castle Northwich 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.

Parish registers for Witton-cum-Twambrooks, 1561-1973 Chester Record Office call number: P53/1/1-6, 2/1-10, P53/4690/1-4, P53/3/1-4, 8/1-2, 4/1-11, P53/4690/5-20, P53/5/1-2, 6/1-9, P53/7/1-3. Witton-cum-Twambrooks was a chapelry in Great Budworth parish. An index for Cheshire Parish Records can be found in FamilySearch Historical Records. The Family History Library (FHL) has copies of the following records.

Witton (Northwich)- St Helen Baptism Index-1813-1851- 929.342715 No2 Baptisms-1561-1767- MFPR 427 Baptisms-1768-1858- MFPR 430 Baptisms-1858-1903- MFPR 431 Baptisms Auxiliary-1813-1862- MFPR 432 Burials-1561-1767- MFPR 427 Burials-1768-1873- MFPR 433 Burials-1874-1912- MFPR 434 Burials Aux.-1813-1862- MFPR 435 Marriage Index-1754-1792- 929.342715 No1 Marriage Index-1792-1851- 929.342715 No1 Marriage Index-1837-1857- 929.342715 No2 Marriages-1561-1754- MFPR 427 Marriages-1754-1837- MFPR 428 Marriages-1837-1895- MFPR 429

For original registers of above please enquire at Cheshire Record Office.

The Manchester Room and Greater Manchester County Record Office Email: archiveslocalstudies@manchester.gov.uk

The Manchester Room@City Library (Local Studies)

Bishop's transcripts for Witton-cum-Twambrooks, 1597-1893 Records are not arranged in strict chronological order. Some intermittent years are missing. Cheshire Record Office number: EDB/225

An index of Cheshire Bishop's transcripts may be found in Family Search Historical Records

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images
 * 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Refer to Northwich, Cheshire to see relevant churches and chapels.

Cheshire Record Office Document Reference EMC 13


 * NORTHWICH METHODIST CIRCUIT Date 1793-1999
 * Description SUPERINTENDENT MINISTER Registers of baptisms MISCELLANEA CIRCUIT MEETING SECRETARY Minutes of quarterly and half yearly meetings General Purposes Committee minutes Property Committee minutes Returns of members
 * CIRCUIT STEWARDS Circuit Steward Accounts Preachers Travelling Fund Accounts Minutes Plans Accounts Circuit Schedules Circuit Property Schedules
 * LOCAL PREACHERS' MEETING SECRETARY Minutes
 * CIRCUIT PLAN SECRETARY Circuit plans
 * YOUTH COUNCIL Minutes MISCELLANEA NORTHWICH BOURNE CIRCUIT
 * CIRCUIT STEWARDS Accounts Circuit reports and schedules
 * SUPERINTENDENT MINISTER Membership register
 * CIRCUIT MEETING SECRETARY Quarterly meeting and circuit committee minutes
 * OVERSEERS MISSIONS CIRCUIT COMMITTEE LOCAL PREACHERS' MEETING SECRETARY Minutes
 * MISCELLANEA CIRCUIT PLAN SECRETARY Circuit plans
 * NORTHWICH UNITED METHODIST (CENTRAL) CIRCUIT CIRCUIT MEETING SECRETARY WOMEN'S FELLOWSHIP Accounts Miscellanea

Northwich Wesleyan Methodist Circuit was formed in 1792, and following Methodist Union in 1932 was designated Northwich London Road Circuit. In 1935 London Road Circuit amalgamated with Central (former United Methodist) circuit to form Northwich (London Road and Central) circuit. In 1956 the Winsford section of this circuit was transferred to Winsford Methodist Circuit, and the remainder amalgamated with Northwich Bourne (former Primitive Methodist) circuit to form Northwich Methodist Circuit. URL http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=017-emc13&amp;cid=0

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


 * FreeBMD
 * Cheshire BMD

Registration District

 * Northwich

Poor Law Unions

 * Northwich Poor Law Union, Cheshire

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
Witton on GENUKI