Place:Caverswall, Staffordshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

From the website of the Parish of Caverswall:

"The village of Caverswall and the Parish are certainly ancient, the settlement is listed in the Domesday Book and It seems likely that the parish would have been in existence by 1200. This original parish would have been the area served by the church at Caverswall. The concept of a civil parish was introduced in Tudor times to take responsibility for the upkeep of highways, care of the poor and dealing with minor law and order issues. The evidence suggests that two civil parishes or townships were established, one covering Caverswall Village and the surrounding area and a second to include Weston Coyney, Hulme and Werrington. The area served by the parish church, known as the ecclesiastical parish, encompassed both of the civil parishes or townships.

"There have been several changes to the parish boundaries over the years and the parish that we see today is much smaller than it was originally. The Industrial Revolution and the development of the nearby Pottery Towns played a part in shaping the population, the landscape and the boundaries of the parish. By the 1870s the main centres of population within the ecclesiastical parish were Caverswall Village, Cookshill, Weston Coyney, Meir, East Vale, Adderley Green, Dividy Lane, Hulme and Werrington. In addition there were other homes and farms scattered across the parish. This map shows the probable line of the parish boundaries earlier in that century.

"Significant changes to the boundaries of the civil parish started to take place in the 1880s. The pottery town of Longton annexed East Vale in 1883 acquiring 16 acres of land and with it some 1400 inhabitants. Then in the following year additional land was annexed in another Longton Borough Extension Scheme. The Local Government Act of 1894 created a revised structure of parishes across rural England and Wales which generally followed the boundaries of the old civil parishes. The civic affairs of each parish were put into the hands of an elected parish council. The Church of England retained its ecclesiastical parishes which today are governed by parochial church councils.

"The City of Stoke on Trent acquired parts of the parish in the 1920s and the city boundaries were expanded again in the 1960s to include Weston Coyney. In 1987 the civil parish of Caverswall was sub-divided to create a separate parish for Werrington."

An article on St Peter`s Churchyard and the Parish Cemetery is part way down the page titled "Genealogy" and has links to indexes of burials in the church and the graveyard and also to various lists in the parish registers.

The writer has outlined the content of each of the enumerator's books for the 1841 and 1851 censuses (http://www.caverswall.org.uk/national-census-records/). For 1841 he gives the names of the houses in each district, in 1851 he lists the names of the enumerators and the boundaries of each district. The website is currently (March 2015) undergoing reconstruction and there may well be more useful additions in the future.

Staffordshire Research Tips

Reminder: Staffordshire today covers a much smaller area than formerly. The West Midlands now governs the southeastern corner of pre-1974 Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, although ceremonially still part of Staffordshire, is a unitary authority covering a large well-populated part of the north of the county.

• Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales: Staffordshire 1931 illustrates the parish boundaries of Staffordshire when rural districts were still in existence and before the West Midlands came into being. The map blows up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. Maps in this series are now downloadable for personal use. Between 1894 and 1934 a number of administrative changes to boundaries occurred and therefore The Staffordshire Ordnance Survey Map of 1900 is also useful.
• British History Online has a collection of local maps from the Ordnance Survey 1883-1893. Rural areas are included, but these may be especially useful for investigation the suburbs of large towns.
• The Victoria County History of Staffordshire has six volumes available through British History Online. Some Notes on British Medieval Genealogy is a website listing all the volumes of the Victoria County History of Staffordshire including those not yet online, together with the contents of each including the places covered.
• Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service announced in August 2015 that nearly all their parish registers are now online with Findmypast. Staffordshire Archives has three branches:

• Staffordshire Record Office, Eastgate Street, Stafford ST16 2LZ (phone and email contact details, opening hours, etc.)
• Stoke on Trent City Archives, City Central Library, Bethesda Street, Hanley, Stoke on Trent ST1 3RS (phone and email contact details, opening hours, etc.)
• Lichfield Record Office, The Friary, Lichfield WS13 6QG (phone and email contact details, opening hours, etc.)

• The William Salt Library is the reference library in Stafford and is adjacent to the county archive offices. They have an online catalogue of their holdings.
• GENUKI lists other large libraries in Staffordshire for Wolverhampton, Burton-upon-Trent, Dudley, Walsall, and Sandwell. The last three of these places are now in the West Midlands and may hold items of local interest which are no longer housed in Staffordshire libraries and archives. For example, The Walsall Archives Centre keeps local census records and local church records.
• The Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry includes Staffordshire in its remit. It has branches in Stoke-on-Trent, Burton-on-Trent and Wolverhampton. Publications are available through the BMSGH shop. Payments accepted by debit and credit card and by Paypal. Other family history and local history societies situated around Staffordshire are listed by GENUKI.
• The Midlands Historical Data project produces searchable facsimile copies of old local history books and directories of interest to genealogists. It specialises in the three counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, working closely with libraries, archives and family history societies in the area. Digital images are made freely available to participating organisations to improve public access. Free search index on its web-site to all its books. In many cases payment will be required to see the extract.
• GENUKI makes a great many suggestions as to other websites with worthwhile information about Staffordshire as well as leading to a collection of 19th century descriptions of each of the ecclesiastical parishes.
• The FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI which may be more up-to-date. An index of parishes leads to notes and references for each parish. The auxiliary website English Jurisdictions can also be helpful.
• A Vision of Britain through Time has

1. organization charts of the hierarchies of parishes within hundreds, registration districts (1837 onwards) and the rural and urban districts of the 20th century. They have just announced (August 2015) a future expansion to their data including 2011 census population data and links to post-1974 county organization.
2. excerpts from a gazetteer of circa 1870 outlining individual towns and parishes
3. reviews of population through the time period 1800-1960

• Brett Langston's list of Staffordshire Registration Districts and parishes within each registration district from 1837 to the present can indicate where to find details of civil registration entries since the process began in England.
• More local sources can often be found by referring to "What Links Here" in the column on the left.
• The website of the Parish of Caverswall