Wheelock Christ Church, Cheshire Genealogy

History
Wheelock Christ Church is an ecclesiastical parish in Cheshire created from Sandbach St. Mary Ancient Parish in 1840 including Betchton, Hassall, part of Sandbach, and Wheelock.

The Ackers/Shakerley family, the owners of Little Moreton Hall, had the Church built. The Church was built on the land of Wheelock Hall, which was owned by the Ackers. In 1836 the nave of the church was built and named The Episcopal Chapel of Ease until in 1843 the Bishop of Chester dedicated the church to Christ and the church therefore became Christ Church. The church is built in brick with lancet windows and the chancel was added in 1903,by the architect Alfred Price. The church is unusual as the church was built facing west. The churchyard is laid out conventionally as the headstones are at the west end of the graves.

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
To find the names of the neighboring 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.

Bishop's transcripts for Wheelock, 1843-1867 Formerly a chapelry in Sandbach parish. Called Christ Church. Cheshire Record Office reference: EDB 218

An index for Cheshire, Church of England, Bishop’s Transcripts (Diocese of Chester) is available online in Record Search.

Here is a list of church records on microfilm at the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City.

Cheshire Record Office Reference P 262 Wheelock Parish Registers: Christenings 1843-1902, Marriages 1862-1924, Burials 1843-1926. Records other than registers 1843-1975 See also Sandbach URL http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=017-p262&amp;cid=0

Non-Conformist Churches
Wheelock, Baptist Chapel. Wheelock Heath. Wheelock, Methodist Chapel (Primitive). Built in 1868. Wheelock, Methodist Chapel (Wesleyan). ReBuilt in 1874. Wheelock, Congregational Church. Founded 1824.

Poor Law Unions

 * Congleton   http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Stockport/Stockport.shtml

Registration Districts

 * Congleton (1837–1937)
 * Crewe (1937–74)
 * Congleton and Crewe (1974–88)
 * South Cheshire (1988–98)
 * Cheshire East (post 1998)

registration events may be searched online at Cheshire BMD