Manchester
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MANCHESTER, a city, a township, a district, a parish, and a diocese in Lancashire. The city stands at an intersection of Roman roads, on the rivers Irwell, Irk, and Medlock, at the termini of varions canals, and at a convergence of railways, 31 miles W by N of Liverpool, 85 NNW of Birmingham, and 188¼ NW of London. Railways go from it, in all directions, to all parts of the kingdom; canals give it water communication with the eastern and the western seas, and with most parts of England; and conveyances, of all suitable kinds, connect it with places not touched by railway or canal.

John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) more ...

Archives and Libraries

Cemeteries

Manchester Cemeteries and Crematoria. Transcripts of Gravestones are often in the archives at Manchester Central Library.

The following have been transcribed but are waiting to be bound

Census

Details about the census records, and indexes for Manchester.

Church History

Details about Manchester church history.

Church Records

You can also perform a more selective search for churches in the Manchester area that are recorded in the GENUKI church database. This will also help identify churches in nearby townships and/or parishes. You also have the option to see the location of the churches marked on a map.

If you keep this page loaded for a very long time and the database is updated since loading it, the church links above may become stale and may display the wrong church. If this happens, reloading this page will correct them.

Civil Registration

The Register Office covering the Manchester area is Manchester.

Description and Travel

Some pictures of Manchester.

Gazetteers

A gazetteer of places in the modern Greater Manchester.

Genealogy

Kim & Claire Travis have abstracted all genealogical data from "Genealogical memorials of the Travis family of Blackley, Manchester, Inchfield, Walsden, Todmorden, Heyside, High Crompton, Oldham, &co, and connections with other local families" by John Travis, 1893.

Historical Geography

In 1835 the parish of Manchester contained the townships of Manchester, Blackley, Moston, Failsworth, Crumpsall, Broughton, Salford, Stretford, Cheetham, Harpurhey, Newton Heath, Beswick, Bradford, Droylsden, Openshaw, Hulme, Chorlton on Medlock, Ardwick, Gorton, Denton, Haughton, Moss Side, Rusholme, Kirkmanshulme, Levenshulme, Reddish, Chorlton cum Hardy, Withington, Burnage, Didsbury, Heaton Norris,

Manchester used to be in the county of Lancashire until 1974 when it became part of the new county of Greater Manchester which is divided into 10 metropolitan boroughs. These are Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan. The total population is over 2.5 million.

Each Metropolitan Borough comprises a big town together with the surrounding smaller towns, villages and countryside. Most of the names are self explanatory. For example the metropolitan borough of Stockport includes the towns of Stockport, Cheadle, Gatley, Bramhall, Hazel Grove, Marple, Romiley, Bredbury, etc.

The names of two of the metropolitan boroughs are not obvious. A neutral name was chosen because, at the time they were created, there was no agreement on the town to be put forward as the centre. However, Tameside is based on Ashton-under-Lyne, and Trafford is centred on Stretford.

Information about boundaries and administrative areas is available from A Vision of Britain through time.

History

A description of the city of Manchester in 1865 taken from Slater's Directory, gives an interesting view of what it was like in Victorian times.

A description of Manchester in times past.

A description of Manchester in the 19th century.

Maps

View maps of Manchester and places within its boundaries.

Military History

A brief history of the Manchester Regiment.

The National Roll of the Great War, Manchester.

Names, Personal

Names from Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows Directory (1915/6), extracted by Ted Wildy.

Poor Houses, Poor Law

The Workhouse site has an interesting description of Manchester workhouse.

Probate Records

For probate purposes prior to 1858, Manchester was in the Archdeaconry of Chester, in the Diocese of Chester. The original Lancashire wills for the Archdeaconry of Chester are held at the Lancashire Record Office.

Societies

The Manchester & Lancashire FHS.