Place:Ribchester, Lancashire, England

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NameRibchester
Alt namesBremetennacumsource: Athena, Romano-British Sites [online] (2000)
Bremetennacum Veteranorumsource: GRI Photo Archive, Authority File (1998) p 13036
Ribelcastresource: Domesday Book (1985) p 156
Knowle Greensource: hamlet in parish
Stedesource: hamlet in parish
TypeAncient parish, Parish
Coordinates53.817°N 2.533°W
Located inLancashire, England
See alsoAmounderness Hundred, Lancashire, Englandhundred in which it was part located
Blackburn Hundred, Lancashire, Englandhundred in which it was part located
Preston Rural, Lancashire, England|rural district in which the parish was located 1894-1974
Ribble Valley (borough), Lancashire, Englanddistrict municipality in which the parish has been located since 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Ribchester (#19 on map) is a village and civil parish within the Ribble Valley District of Lancashire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Ribble, six miles (10 km) northwest of Blackburn and twelve miles (19 km) east of Preston.

In common with many towns and villages in East Lancashire its later history was dominated by cotton weaving; firstly in the form of hand-loom weaving and later in two mills. Neither mill still operates and the village is primarily a dormitory village for commuters to the town of Blackburn and the cities of Preston and Manchester.

From 1894 until 1974 the parish was in Preston Rural District. In the 19th century it was part of Alston sub-district of Preston Registration District and Poor Law Union, and before becoming a civil parish in 1866 it was a township and ancient parish split between Amounderness Hundred and Blackburn Hundred.

As an ancient parish it included the following townships and chapelries:

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Ribchester from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"RIBCHESTER, an ancient small town, a township, and a parish, in Preston district, Lancashire. The town stands on the river Ribble, 3¼ miles N W of a station ofits own name on the Blackburn and Clitheroe railway, and 5½ N N W of Blackburn; occupies the site of the Roman station Coccium or Rigodunum; was reached, in ancient times, by the tide coming up the Ribble; has yielded multitudes of ancient relics, including Roman altars, columns, statues, marbles, coins, and armour, besides anchors and part of a vessel's hull; carries on hand-loom weaving; and has a post-office under Preston. ...
"The township comprises 2,093 acres. Real property: £3,459; of which £89 are in quarries. Population in 1851: 1,650; in 1861: 1,357. Houses: 261. The decrease of population arose from the removal of hand-loom weavers to towns.
"The manor belongs to J.and J. Fenton, Esqs. A workhouse of Preston district is here; and, at the census of 1861, had 113 inmates. The parish contains also the townships of Hothersall, Dutton, Alston, and Dilworth. Acres: 8,150. Population: 3,885. Houses: 751. The property is much subdivided. Cotton-spinning and varions manufactures are carried on at Longridge and Knowl-Green. The living is a vicarage, united with the [perpetual] curacy of Stidd, in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £175. Patron, the Bishop of Manchester. The church is ancient but good; consists of nave, aisles, chancel, and chapel, with a tower; and once had two chantries. The vicarage of Longridge is a separate benefice. There are an Independent chapel at Knowl-Green, places of worship at Longridge, an endowed school with £20 a year, and charities £52."

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 parish of Ribchester from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1912
  • A description of the township of Ribchester from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1912
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Ribchester. 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.