Place:Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England

NameHeaton Norris
Alt namesHeaton-Norrissource: Family History Library Catalog
Heaton Chapelsource: neighbourhood in township
Heaton Merseysource: neighbourhood in township
Heaton-Merseysource: hyphenated
Heaton Moorsource: neighbourhood in township
Heaton Strangewayssource: British History Online
Norris Banksource: neighbourhood in township
TypeTownship, Civil parish
Coordinates53.417°N 2.166°W
Located inLancashire, England     ( - 1913)
Also located inCheshire, England     (1913 - 1974)
See alsoSalford Hundred, Lancashire, Englandhundred in which it was located
Manchester, Lancashire, Englandancient parish in which it was located
Stockport, Cheshire, Englandmunicipal borough it joined in 1913
Stockport (metropolitan borough), Greater Manchester, Englandmetropolitan borough covering the area since 1974


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Heaton Norris is a suburb in the metropolitan borough of Stockport in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England.

It was historically a township in the ancient parish of Manchester and county of Lancashire. The township stretched from Cringle Brook on the north to the River Mersey on the south; the highest ground was in the south, with a steep slope to the Mersey and a gentler decline to the north. The southeastern portion had long been a suburb of Stockport, and was included in the Parliamentary borough in 1832 and in the municipal borough in 1835, forming a distinct ward. The central portion of the township, known as Heaton Chapel, and Heaton Moor early became urban in nature. The hamlet of Heaton Mersey in the southwest corner was more rural.

History

From the survey of 1212 it appears that Heaton Norris was a member of the fee or barony of Manchester, and was assessed as two plough-lands. By Albert Grelley the younger it was granted, at a rent of 10s., to William le Norreys, whose heirs held the land in 1212. These heirs were probably the brothers Richard and Jordan le Norreys, who in 1196 made an agreement as to a division of their lands in Heaton, Chorlton, and Bradford (all townships of Manchester), with Jordan receiving Heaton. Though the family gave a distinguishing name to the township and though Norris continued as a surname in it, the manor was surrendered to the lords of Manchester in about 1280. In 1282 Robert Grelley was found to have held part of it in demesne, and to have farmed 8 oxgangs of land (half the manor) in bondage. The only free tenant recorded at that time was Adam de Lever, who owed two pairs of gloves yearly. The manor was held of the Earl of Lancaster for the fourth part of a knight's fee.

Image:Manchester ancient parish revision.png

The manor continued in the Grelley and La Warre families until the 15th century, when it appears to have been granted to Sir James Strangeways, in this way acquiring the alternative name of Heaton Strangeways. In 1569 the manor was in the possession of Leonard and Edward Dacre, and was afterwards acquired by the Mosleys. An order concerning the bounds of the manor was made about 1596. In 1666 there were eighty-seven hearths liable to the tax (the "hearth tax"), but no house in the township had more than four.

The part of the township outside Stockport obtained a local board in 1872; this became an urban district council, with twelve members. A small portion, 16 acres, was added to Stockport in 1901.

Within the ancient parish of Manchester, a chapel of ease dedicated to St Thomas was built in the township of Heaton Norris and consecrated on Monday, 29 July 1765. In September 1838 the church was assigned a district chapelry comprised of the townships of Heaton Norris, Levenshulme and Reddish. The district was reduced with the formation of the district parish of St John, Heaton Mersey in February 1852 . The district of Heaton Norris was separated from the parish of Manchester and thus became a civil parish in June 1854. Further church buildings were erected and parishes, both ecclesiastical and civil were formed, over the period up to 1900.

See also: Parish registers, 1769–1992; Bishop's transcripts, 1779–1839.

Civil Parish of Heaton Norris

Heaton Norris was a civil parish wholly within Lancashire until 1889 when the county boundary was adjusted so that the part of the civil parish included in the county borough of Stockport became a part of Cheshire. This part of Heaton Norris was transferred to the civil parish of Stockport on 31 December 1894, leaving the remainder wholly in Lancashire. Heaton Norris was further reduced in 1901 to enlarge Stockport and extend the county borough, and in 1913 to enlarge the short-lived civil parish South Manchester with the remaining area being transferred from Lancashire to Cheshire. It was ultimately abolished in 1936 to enlarge the civil parish of Stockport.

Heaton Norris is now a suburban area of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It is a constituent part of the Four Heatons, which also includes neighbours Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor. Until 1913 Heaton Norris was a parish of Lancashire. Heaton Norris Parish and Urban District (1894-1913) spanned the whole of the Four Heatons.

In 1835 part of the parish of Heaton Norris was annexed to neighbouring Stockport in Cheshire; Heaton Chapel and Heaton Moor remained in Lancashire, but further territory was ceded in 1894 and the remnant in 1913.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Heaton Norris.

Research Tips

  • See the Wikipedia articles on parishes and civil parishes for descriptions of this lowest rung of local administration. The original parishes (known as ancient parishes) were ecclesiastical, under the jurisdiction of the local priest. A parish covered a specific geographical area and was sometimes equivalent to that of a manor. Sometimes, in the case of very large rural parishes, there were chapelries where a "chapel of ease" allowed parishioners to worship closer to their homes. In the 19th century the term civil parish was adopted to define parishes with a secular form of local government. In WeRelate both civil and ecclesiastical parishes are included in the type of place called a "parish". Smaller places within parishes, such as chapelries and hamlets, have been redirected into the parish in which they are located. The names of these smaller places are italicized within the text.
  • Rural districts were groups of geographically close civil parishes in existence between 1894 and 1974. They were formed as a middle layer of administration between the county and the civil parish. Inspecting the archives of a rural district will not be of much help to the genealogist or family historian, unless there is need to study land records in depth.
  • Civil registration or vital statistics and census records will be found within registration districts. To ascertain the registration district to which a parish belongs, see Registration Districts in Lancashire, part of the UK_BMD website.
  • Lancashire Online Parish Clerks provide free online information from the various parishes, along with other data of value to family and local historians conducting research in the County of Lancashire.
  • FamilySearch Lancashire Research Wiki provides a good overview of the county and also articles on most of the individual parishes (very small or short-lived ones may have been missed).
  • Ancestry (international subscription necessary) has a number of county-wide collections of Church of England baptisms, marriages and burials, some from the 1500s, and some providing microfilm copies of the manuscript entries. There are specific collections for Liverpool (including Catholic baptisms and marriages) and for Manchester. Their databases now include electoral registers 1832-1935. Another pay site is FindMyPast.
  • A map of Lancashire circa 1888 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time includes the boundaries between the parishes and shows the hamlets within them.
  • A map of Lancashire circa 1954 supplied by A Vision of Britain through Time is a similar map for a later timeframe.
  • GENUKI provides a website covering many sources of genealogical information for Lancashire. The organization is gradually updating the website and the volunteer organizers may not have yet picked up all the changes that have come with improving technology.
  • The Victoria County History for Lancashire, provided by British History Online, covers the whole of the county in six volumes (the seventh available volume [numbered Vol 2] covers religious institutions). The county is separated into its original hundreds and the volumes were first published between 1907 and 1914. Most parishes within each hundred are covered in detail. Maps within the text can contain historical information not available elsewhere.
  • A description of the township of Heaton Norris from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1911
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Heaton Norris. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.