Southport Christ Church, Lancashire Family History Guide
Southport Christ Church is an Ecclesiastical Parish and a market town in the county of Lancashire, created in 1825 from North Meols Ancient Parish; located on Lord Street.
Alternative names: Southport
Parish church: Christ Church
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1821
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1821
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
SOUTHPORT, a town and three chapelries in North Meols township and parish, Lancashire. The town stands on the coast, at the termini of railways from Liverpool, Preston, and Manchester, 18½ miles N by W of Liverpool; was, in the early years of the present century, a poor hamlet, called South Hawes; came into notice, about 1830, as an attractive watering-place; grew rapidly, from that time, into a handsome town, with spacious streets and promenades.
It occupies a quondam sandy waste, absorbent of moisture, and now well embellished; enjoys a salubrious climate; includes a chief street 270 feet wide, perfectly straight, and nearly a mile long; publishes two newspapers; and has a head post-office, a r. station with telegraph, seventeen hotels, a pier, baths, an extensive bathing-beach, a park of 30 acres, a well constructed market house, a fish-market, a town hall, three churches, eleven dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a cemetery with three handsome chapels, four public day schools, a convalescent hospital and sea-bathing infirmary, a hydropathic hospital, and a dispensary.
The pier was erected in 1860, at a cost of £10,000; and extended since, at an additional cost of £15,000; and is 4,395 feet long. The town hall was built in 1853, at a cost of about £4,500; is in the Grecian style, with a portico; and contains assembly and sessions rooms, and police court-rooms, offices, and cells.
Christ Church was built in 1820, and has been much enlarged; is in the early English style, and nearly square; and has a fine tower and spire 180 feet high.
Trinity church was built in 1837, and has been enlarged.
St. Paul’s church was built in 1864, at a cost of about £ 4,500: is in the decorated English style; and has a tower and spire 132 feet high.
The Chapel-street Independent chapel is in the classic style, with Corinthian portico. The Lord-street Independent chapel is in the pointed style, with a fine spire. The Mornington-road Wesleyan chapel also is in the pointed style, with a lofty spire. The Trinity Wesleyan chapel was built in 1864, at a cost of about £9,000; is in the early English style, and cruciform; and has gables surmounted with carved crosses, and a lofty tower with brooch spire.
Pop. of the town in 1868, about 16,500. The three chapelries are Christ-church, St. Paul, and Trinity. Pop., 5,490, 3,500, and 4,025. The livings are p. curacies in the diocese of Chester. Value of C., £678; of St. P., £300; of Trinity, £550. Patron of C., the Rev. Hesketh; of St. Paul and T., Trustees.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
SOUTHPORT, a sea-bathing place, in the parish of North Meols, union of Ormskirk, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 9 miles (N. W.) from Ormskirk, and 20 (N.) from Liverpool; containing, in 1841, 3346 inhabitants. It is situated at the mouth of the Ribble, on the shore of the Irish Sea, opposite to Lytham. Prior to 1792, the site of this improving village was a dreary sand-bank, at the lower end of a bay seventeen fathoms deep, which is now choked up with sand. The foundation of the prosperity of Southport, as a seabathing place, was laid by Mr. Sutton, of North Meols, who, appreciating its local advantages, built the first inn, called the Royal Hotel, in 1792; in a few years symptoms of prosperity began to appear, and some cottages were built in the vicinity of the hotel, on ground considerably elevated above the level of the sea. From this beginning the village gradually rose into importance, attaining its present celebrity from the influence of fashion, the easy communication with some of the principal towns of the county, and a salubrious air from which invalids derive essential benefit. It is now a favourite resort for sea-bathing, and possesses excellent accommodation for visiters. The houses are built of brick, a considerable number of them cemented, and many in the form of villas; there are several large hotels, and a number of good shops. Lords’-street, the principal street, is about a mile in length, very wide, and open, with gardens in front of the houses. The Victoria Baths, erected by subscription, form a handsome range of building with a colonnade in front, facing the sea; and attached is a fine terrace-walk of great extent. An assembly-room, newsroom, and libraries supply means of amusement and relaxation; and upwards of a hundred donkeys, and many convenient donkey-carriages, enable visiters to explore the neighbourhood, and enjoy the breezes on the shore.
An act was obtained in 1846, for paving, lighting, and otherwise improving the place, and for establishing a market; and under its provisions Improvement Commissioners have been appointed. In 1847 an act was passed for a railway to Liverpool, through Crosby, 16½ miles in length; the line, being nearly level, is free from engineering difficulties. In the same year, another act was passed for a railway to Manchester, through Wigan. There are two churches. Christ Church, an unostentatious brick building with a tower, was erected in 1820, and enlarged in 1830: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Rev. Charles Hesketh; net income, £107. Trinity Church, in the early English style, was consecrated in November 1837, and enlarged in 1847: the living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £150, and a substantial parsonage-house; patrons, Trustees. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans; and a Roman Catholic chapel. The last, dedicated to Ste. Marie-on-the-Sands, was built in 1840 from a design by Pugin, is in the early English style, and cost £1500: a house for the priest and a school-house are adjacent. A strangers’ charity provides medical aid and bathing for the sick poor coming from a distance, and a dispensary affords aid to the local poor.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Historical Directiories
Slater’s Royal National Commercial Directory of Southport & Birkdale with their vicinities 1883-4. The work is embellished by a New Plan of Southport and Birkdale. Price seven shillings and sixpence. Manchester: Compiled, printed and published by Isaac Slater, Royal National Directory Offices, 41 King Street West; and sold by him and A. W. Newman (Late Adam Stewart), 149 Lord Street, Southport. 1883-4. File Size: 38.6 MB – This book is a free download from Parishmouse
Administration
- County: Lancashire
- Civil Registration District: Ormskirk
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Chester
- Rural Deanery: North Meols
- Poor Law Union: Ormskirk
- Hundred: West Derby
- Province: York