Altrincham Cheshire Family History Guide

Altrincham is an Ecclesiastical Parish and a market town in the county of Cheshire, created in 1812 from a chapelry in Bowdon Ancient Parish.

Alternative names: Altringham

Parish church: St. George

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1799
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1814

Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Methodist New Connexion, Presbyterian, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, Unitarian, and Wesleyan Methodist. 

Adjacent Parishes

• Bowdon

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

ALTRINCHAM, or Altringham, a town, a township, two chapelries, a subdistrict, and a district, in Cheshire.

The town is in the parish of Bowdon, at an intersection of railways, adjacent to the Bridgewater canal, 8 miles SSW of Manchester; comprises good streets and some handsome villas; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts, and a polling-place.

It publishes a weekly newspaper; carries on iron-founding, bone-grinding, timber sawing, much trade from neighbouring market-gardens, and much transit traffic, and has a head post office, three r. stations, two chief inns, a town hall of 1849, a literary institution in the Tudor style enlarged in 1864, a plain church of 1799, a church in the decorated English style built in 1867, a Wesleyan chapel in the Byzantine style built in 1864, five other dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, five public schools, a medical hospital, charities £57, a weekly market on Tuesday, and three annuals fairs.

The township comprises 657 acres. Real property, £24,087. Pop., 6,628. Houses, 1,240. The chapelries are St. George and St. John.

The livings are p. curacies. Value of St. G., £210. Patron of St. G., the Vicar of Bowdon; of St. J., the Bishop of Chester.

The subdistrict comprises part of the parish of Bowdon and all the parish of Ashton-upon-Mersey. Acres, 17,796. Pop., 18,214. Houses, 3,453.

The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Wilmslow, containing the parishes of Mobberley, and Northern, and part of the parish of Wilmslow; the subdistrict of Lymm, containing the parishes of Lymm and Warburton, and parts of the parishes of Bowdon, Rosthern, and Great Budworth; and the subdistrict of Knutsford, containing the parish of Knutsford, and parts of the parishes of Rostherne and Great Budworth

Acres, 73,665. Poor-rates in 1866, £15,917. Pop. in 1841, 31,019; in 1861, 40,517. Houses, 7,782. Marriages in 1866, 230; births, 1,385, of which 115 were illegitimate; deaths, 855, of which 317 were at ages under 5 years, and 16 were at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 2,012; births, 12,179; deaths, 7,387.

The places of worship in 1851 were 20 of the Church of England, with 8,832 sittings; 12 of Independents, with 2,895 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 615 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 200 s.; 6 of Unitarians, with 684 s.; 2 of Moravians, sittings not reported; 21 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 3,672 s.; 1 of New Connexion Methodists, with 500 s.; 9 of Primitive Methodists, with 879 s.; 1 of Wesleyan Association and 1 of Brethren, sittings not reported; 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 50 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 130 s.

The schools in 1851 were 42 public day schools, with 2,755 scholars; 64 private day schools, with 1,590 s.; 63 Sunday schools, with 5,649 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 85 s.

The workhouse is in the township of Knutsford-Inferior.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

ALTRINCHAM, a market-town and chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Bowdon, hundred of Bucklow, N. division of the county of Chester, 7 miles (N. by E.) from Knutsford, and 180 (N. W. by N.) from London; containing 3399 inhabitants. The town is situated near Bowdon Downs, and, though small, contains several respectable dwelling-houses, the salubrity of the air rendering it a place of general resort for invalids from Manchester; it is watched and lighted under the general act of the 11th of George IV., and is characterised throughout by cleanliness and neatness. The trade principally consists in the spinning of yarn, the making of bobbins for cotton and worsted spinners, and the weaving of cotton by hand-looms, and by machinery driven by steam, for the manufacturers at Manchester and other adjacent towns. The Duke of Bridgewater’s canal from Manchester to Runcorn passes within three-quarters of a mile of the town, affording a facility of conveyance for coal; and in 1845 and 1846 acts were passed, the first for a railway to Manchester, since completed, and the second for a railway from Birkenhead, by Altrincham, to Stockport. Early potatoes are cultivated here to a great extent for the Manchester market. The market-days are Tuesday and Saturday, the latter for butchers’ meat; the fairs, chiefly for the sale of live stock, are held on April 29th, August 5th, and November 22nd.

Altrincham was made a free borough in the reign of Edward I., by charter of Hamon de Massey, lord of the barony of Dunham-Massey, and the burgesses were empowered to have a guild-merchant, and to choose a præpositus, or bailiff; but the only privilege they now possess is that of electing a mayor at a court leet held in autumn, when a jury of burgesses present three of their own body to the steward, who appoints one to the office, which however is merely nominal, the duty extending only to the opening of the fairs. A steward is chosen by the lord of the barony of Dunham-Massey, and this officer appoints a bailiff; there are also two constables, who are chosen by the leet jury. The powers of the county debt-court of Altrincham, established in 1847, extend over part of the registration-district of Altrincham. The township comprises 657 acres, of which 38 are common or waste: the soil is loam. The living is a perpetual curacy; patron, the Vicar of Bowdon; net income, £150. The tithes have been commuted for £48. 14., payable to the Bishop of Chester, and £43 to the vicar. The chapel, dedicated to St. George, is a plain brick building, erected by subscription in 1799. There are two places of worship for Methodists, and one for Unitarians. The poor law union of Altrincham comprises 39 parishes or places, and contains a population of 31,019.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Records

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Administration

• County: Cheshire
• Civil Registration District: Altrincham
• Probate Court: Pre-1541 – Court of the Bishop of Lichfield (Episcopal Consistory), Post-1540 – Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
• Diocese: Pre-1541 – Lichfield and Coventry, Post-1540 – Chester
• Rural Deanery: Frodsham
• Poor Law Union: Altrincham
• Hundred: Bucklow
• Province: York