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- source: Family History Library Catalog
- the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia
Bolton le Moors (also known as Bolton-le-Moors St Peter) was a civil parish and ancient or ecclesiastical parish of the Salford Hundred in the historic county of Lancashire, England. The ecclesiastical parish was administered from St Peter's Church, Bolton in the township of Great Bolton (now central Bolton).
Bolton le Moors was originally a part of the ancient parish of Eccles, but in the 14th century it became a parish in its own right. The parish corresponded roughly to what is now the town of Bolton and some surrounding areas. As with many large parishes in the north of England, it was divided into "townships" in 1662 to make administration easier. Some of the townships had chapels and were known as chapelries. The townships were as follows:
For civil purposes, these townships and chapelries were largely autonomous, although for ecclesiastical purposes they came under the authority of the vicar of Bolton. In 1866, the civil parish of Bolton le Moors was abolished and its townships became civil parishes in their own right. The civil parishes, were used for the censuses until 1891, after which the area was broken into four geographical areas.
- The southeastern area, centred on Bolton became the County Borough of Bolton. Bolton also absorbed a number of civil parishes from the neighbouring ancient parish of Deane. (No attempt has been made on the map to precisely outline the Deane parishes which joined Bolton.)
- The northeastern group of parishes joined under the parish of Turton
- Anglezarke and Rivington became part of the Chorley Rural District.
- Blackrod became a separate urban district.
The Wikipedia article includes a table of populations for the townships for the period 1841-1891.
Research Tips
- See the Wikipedia articles on parishes and civil parishes for descriptions of this lowest rung of local administration. The original parishes were ecclesiastical (described as ancient parishes), 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.
- An urban district was a type of municipality in existence between 1894 and 1974. They were formed as a middle layer of administration between the county and the civil parish and were used for urban areas usually with populations of under 30,000. Inspecting the archives of a urban 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.
- The terms municipal borough and county borough were adopted in 1835 replacing the historic "boroughs". Municipal boroughs generally had populations between 30,000 and 50,000; while county boroughs usually had populations of over 50,000. County boroughs had local governments independent of the county in which they were located, but municipal boroughs worked in tandem with the county administration. Wikipedia explains these terms in much greater detail.
- 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 Bolton le Moors from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1911. The chapter includes a map of the parish.
- A description of the township of Bolton from British History Online (Victoria County Histories), published 1911
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