Halton St Mary Cheshire Family History Guide
Halton St Mary is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Cheshire, created in 1718 from a chapelry in Runcorn Ancient Parish and refounded in 1860 from Runcorn All Saints Ancient Parish and Runcorn Holy Trinity Ecclesiastical Parish. Halton St Mary parish was abolished in 1973 with the creation of East Runcorn with Halton Ecclesiastical Parish.
Ecclesiastical Parishes created from Halton St Mary Ecclesiastical Parish include:
- Runcorn Grange Ecclesiastical Parish created in 1963 from Halton Ecclesiastical Parish
- East Runcorn with Halton Ecclesiastical Parish created in 1973 by the union of Halton Ecclesiastical Parish, Runcorn Grange Ecclesiastical Parish and Runcorn Holy Trinity Ecclesiastical Parish.
Parish registers begin: 1732
Nonconformists include: Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Halton Parish Registers
Search online registers of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials including digitised images of original records and registers and indexed transcriptions.
Baptism, Marriage and Burial Records
These records include images of Church of England parish registers of baptism, marriage, and burial records.
Halton, St. Mary, Cheshire Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1732-1812
Halton St Mary, Cheshire Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1940
Halton St Mary, Cheshire Church of England Bishop’s Transcripts – Baptisms – 1732-1887
Marriage and Banns Records
These records include images of Church of England parish registers of marriages and banns records.
Halton St Mary, Cheshire Church of England Marriages and Banns 1860-1946
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
HALTON, a village, a township, and a chapelry in Runcorn parish, Cheshire. The village stands on an eminence near the Bridgewater canal, the Northwestern railway, and the river Mersey, 1½ mile SE of Runcorn, and 3 NNE of Frodsham; commands an extensive view along the Mersey; was once a market town; and has a post office under Preston Brook, a r. station, and an inn with bowling green.
The township comprises 1,779 acres. Real property, £6,607. Pop., 1,505. Houses, 317. An ancient barony of Halton, having its seat at the village, was, with the constableship of Chester, given by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, to his cousin Nigel; continued, for several centuries, to be held by Nigel’s descendants; and passed, through John of Gaunt, to the duchy of Lancaster.
A castle here, on the brow of a hill, was built about the time of the Conquest; was a favourite hunting seat of John of Gaunt; was dismantled in the civil war of Charles I.; and is now represented by inconsiderable ruins; but includes a habitable portion, rebuilt after the Restoration. The manor now belongs to Sir Richard Brooke, Bart. Stone is quarried.
The chapelry is rather larger than the township, and was constituted in 1860. Pop., 1,541. Houses, 290. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester. Value, £157. Patron, Sir R. Brooke, Bart. The church is an edifice of red stone, with a turret. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists, an endowed grammar school, and alms houses with £55.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
HALTON, a chapelry, and formerly a market-town, in the parish and union of Runcorn, hundred of Bucklow, N. division of the county of Chester; comprising the townships of Halton, Norton, and Stockham; and containing 1734 inhabitants, of whom 1397 are in the township of Halton, 3½ miles (N. N. E.) from Frodsham.
This place was anciently the head of a barony, or fee, which, with the constableship of Chester, was conferred by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, upon his cousin, Nigel, whom he also appointed his earl marshal. These offices were held for a long period by Nigel’s successors, barons of Halton, who, among other privileges granted by the earls of Chester, had the power of holding courts for the trial of all offenders within the barony, and for the determination of all pleas, except such as belonged to the earl’s sword; they had also a prison, and a master-serjeant and eight under-serjeants, within their fee.
The barony became annexed to the crown in the reign of Henry IV., through the descent of that monarch from Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster and eleventh baron of Halton: it is now held under lease from the crown by the Marquess of Cholmondeley. Halton is traditionally said to have been a favourite hunting-seat of the great John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
The castle, occupying a commanding situation on the brow of a hill overlooking a great part of Cheshire, with an extensive view across the river Mersey into Lancashire, was built soon after the Conquest; and the town which arose under its protection, obtained the grant of a weekly market and two annual fairs, which have been long discontinued. During the civil war, the castle was garrisoned for the king, in the early part of 1643; but in the following year it was taken by the parliamentarians.
There are few remains of the building; the only habitable part, apparently rebuilt since the Restoration, has been converted into an inn, in which an apartment has been fitted up for holding the courts for the honour. A distinct coroner is appointed.
The township comprises 1614 acres, the soil of which is clay and loam. The Mersey and Irwell and the Duke of Bridgewater’s canals pass through. In 1837 an act was passed for lighting the place with gas.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rev. John Collins; net income, £157. The chapel is dedicated to St. Mary. A chapel is mentioned by Sir Peter Leycester, as having existed previous to 1625; it was rebuilt about the close of the seventeenth century. In 1733 a library was founded by Sir John Chesshyre, an eminent lawyer in the reign of Queen Anne, the representative of an ancient family seated at Hallwood, in the township: this library now contains several hundred volumes.
A school is endowed with £36 per annum, and an almshouse for six decayed and honest old servants, founded in the year 1767 by Pusey Brooke, Esq., with £54. 12. per annum.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Acton Thomas, Halton, Chester, innkeeper, Nov. 9, 1827.
Historical Maps
British National Grid Ref: SJ 53721 81905
BNG Eastings, Northings: 353721, 381905
Latitude, Longitude: 53.332020, -2.696389
View detailed 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps from the National Library of Scotland Maps – includes OS 25 inch 1892-1918 maps, a vast range of other historical OS maps and land use maps. These maps reveal old street layouts, parish boundaries, and landmarks long since vanished.
Alan Godfrey Old Ordnance Survey Maps
The full range of Cheshire maps produced by Alan Godfrey are available in the Cheshire Maps section of the Books & Maps area. There you can search by principal villages and parishes, by key features for town and city plans, and sort the maps by type and scale. Coverage is taken from the places listed in Alan Godfrey’s own map descriptions, although smaller parishes may not be explicitly named. View all the Cheshire & District Alan Godfrey Maps.
Administration
- County: Cheshire
- Civil Registration District: Runcorn
- 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: Runcorn
- Hundred: Bucklow
- Province: York
County Maps
The Godfrey Edition reprints of Old Ordnance Survey Maps are invaluable for historians and genealogists. Many are taken from the highly detailed 1:2500 plans, reprinted at about 14 inches to the mile, showing individual houses, railways, factories, churches, mills, canals. Each map includes historical notes on the area. Alongside these large‑scale sheets, Alan Godfrey also publishes the smaller‑scale Inch‑to‑the‑Mile series, and a range of maps based on the OS five‑foot plans.
