Cheshire Archives and Libraries

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Cheshire

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Museums

For a list of Cheshire museums, go to List of museums in Cheshire in Wikipedia.
Cheshire West and Cheshire Galleries and Museums
Cheshire East Museums

Paradise Mill
Park Lane
Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 6TJ UK
Telephone: 01625 612045
Email: info@silkmacclesfield.org.uk
Website

Paradise Mill takes you back in time to Macclesfield of the early 20th century, with the only working Jacquard silk hand looms in the country in their original location, offering the experience of what it would have been like to be a Macclesfield mill worker.

The Old Sunday School
Roe Street
Macclesfield, Cheshire SK11 6UT UK
Telephone: 01625 613210
Email: info@silkmacclesfield.org.uk
Website

In the 18th and 19th century many of the children in Macclesfield would have been working in the silk mills from the age of 6 years, and Sunday School would have been their only chance for education. It provided the main opportunity for children to learn reading and writing, as well as scripture. The Large Sunday School was established by John Whitaker, a local Alderman and Magistrate. His aim was to teach religious knowledge and learning to the ‘lower classes of society’; ‘to lessen the sum of human wretchedness’.

Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse
162 London Road
Northwich, Cheshire CW9 8AB UK
Telephone: 1606 271640
Email: weaverhalladmin@cheshirewest.gov.uk
Website

This museum records the social, cultural and industrial history of west Cheshire. It was formerly known as the Salt Museum, reflecting its early focus on the history of salt extraction, a local industry dating back to Roman times. The museum was renamed Weaver Hall Museum and Workhouse in 2010 as its remit now extends to cover the broader history of the area and also the history of the building itself as a former workhouse. It is part of the West Cheshire Museums.

Civil Records Offices

The General Register Office holds a central copy of all birth, marriage, and death registrations in England. These certificates can be ordered from their website (a login is required but it is free to register and search). However, in some cases research can be more efficient working with the smaller, more specific records collections of county/district registry offices.

Sometimes research might be required to determine where a town or parish was in a former registration district, or even its current district. For a list of the historic and current registration districts of Cheshire and their parishes, see UKBMD: Registration Districts in Cheshire.

Contact information and links for ordering records:

East Cheshire

Chester West and Chester

Halton

Warrington