Cheshire Church Records

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Online Records

FindMyPast: Images of Cheshire's parish registers are available online at FindMyPast: The Cheshire Collection.

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These websites provide indexed or transcribed parish registers for Cheshire:

• 1538-1910 Church of England Bishop's Transcripts 1538-1910 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Cheshire Parish Registers through FamilySearch Historical Collection.
• Cheshire Parish Register Project - This society transcribes Parish Registers and Bishops' Transcripts for Cheshire. These transcriptions are moved to a database which is searchable by Baptism, Marriage and Burial. The transcriptions begin with the earliest entry in the registers and end with 1871.
• 1603-1910 England, Manchester, Parish Registers, 1603-1910 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1671-1900 Cheshire Non-conformist Records 1671-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Provided through FamilySearch Historical Collection
• 1538-2000 Church of England Church Records 1538-2000 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Cheshire Parish Registers through FamilySearch Historical Collection.
• Findmypast has digitised a full collection of Cheshire parish records and land tax assessments
• 285,892 Cheshire entries are included in England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 at Ancestry (£). Formerly known as British Isles Vital Records Index - 2nd Ed. Coverage.
• 51,607 Cheshire entries are included in England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940 at Ancestry (£). Formerly known as British Isles Vital Records Index - 2nd Ed. Coverage.
• 45 Cheshire parishes are indexed in Joiner's Marriage Index (£). Coverage.
• Burials from 59 Cheshire places (332,678 entries) are included in the National Burial Index (£). Coverage.
• 1603 - 1910 England, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Parish Registers, 1603-1910 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images

Marriage Licenses

Marriage license abstracts have been published and indexed. The following indexes are available online:

• 1606-1616 FamilySearch Digital Library
• 1616-1624 FamilySearch Digital Library
• 1624-1632 FamilySearch Digital Library
• 1639-1644 FamilySearch Digital Library
• 1661-1667
• 1667-1680
• 1680-1691 FamilySearch Digital Library
• 1691-1700

• 1606-1726 Boyd's Marriage Index (£) includes Archdeaconry of Chester marriage licences (1606-1726).

• 1606-1900 Cheshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1606-1900 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Provided through FamilySearch Historical Collection. Description.

• 1750-1837 - Bertram Merrell's Index of English Marriage Licences Chester Diocese 1750-1837.

Accessing the Records

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies
Duke Street
Chester, Cheshire CH1 1RL UK

Telephone: 1244 972574
Email: recordoffice@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk
Website
Church of England Parish Registers

"This is the Diocesan record office for about 400 parishes in the Diocese of Chester (roughly the same area as pre-1974 Cheshire) and for those in the deaneries of Widnes and Warrington in the Diocese of Liverpool. The vast majority have deposited records and most registers can be seen on microfilm in their search room. Larger local libraries hold microfilms for their areas. Microfilmed register entries up to 1910 can now be searched and viewed online with the subscription site Find my Past. To see a full list of the parish registers we hold please view their parish register index (PDF 1.57MB)

"Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials generally begin between 1538 and 1598. Each church kept its own set of registers so there can be gaps in the records where volumes have been lost or damaged, or due to the disruption caused by the Civil War and Commonwealth period (1640-1660). Copies of baptism, marriage and burial records were sent every year to the Bishop of Chester until the late nineteenth century. These ‘Bishop’s Transcripts’ (BTs) can be useful when the original register is lost or difficult to read."