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The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Leigh
in the County of
-- Lancashire --

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Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin
in the Parish of Leigh

For the format of dates in Registers prior to 1752, see notes on the Julian Calendar

Progress as at December 2008 in transcribing Leigh St Mary baptisms from1700-1900 is as follows:-

1701-1710 (transcribed by Barbara Harrison checked by Peter Wood) completed online
1710-1743 (Barbara Harrison) transcribing
1744-1812 (transcribed by Louise Caddick checked by Peter Wood) completed online
1813-1821 (transcribed by Lesley Cooke checked by Peter Wood) completed online
1821-1834 (transcribed by Louise Caddick checked by Peter Wood) completed online
1834-1849 (transcribed by Barbara Harrison checked by Peter Wood) completed online
1849-1900 (transcribed by Louise Caddick checked by Peter Wood) completed online

Comments on registers:-

The filmed pre-printed registers are sometimes very faint and hard to read. The years 1807-1810 are particularly bad. We have supplemented the entries in these years by reference to the Bishop's Transcripts of the registers.

The Leigh St Mary registers with baptisms between the years 1818 and 1856 also contain transcriptions of baptisms at Astley Chapel (1813-1842), Atherton Chapel (1813-1855) and Tyldesley Chapel (1825-1828). The Astley and Atherton baptisms have been transcribed from the respective chapel registers and can be found online at the Astley and Atherton parish sites: they are not included in the Leigh St Mary baptism registers on this site. The Tyldesley Chapel baptism transcripts are included on this site.

During the period when Daniel Birkett was Vicar of Leigh (to Oct. 1821), he signed the first entry on each page, and initialled thereafter. In this online resource his name has been recorded in full for each entry.

On the LDS films (and similar microfilm at Wigan History Shop) some pages of the registers have been missed during filming. We have obtained the missing data from the original registers held at Manchester Archives. The missing pages are: 1825-1829 pages 288-289, 1829-1834 pages 174-175, 1849-1885 page 82 and pages 130-131. Also, in register 1829-1834 pages 77-80 are missing from the register but have been replaced by 'duplicate' pages 73-75 (from another book?) - there is no apparent time break from the last entry on page 76, across duplicate pages 73-75 to the first entry on page 81, so we believe no baptisms are missing.

From the late 18th century onwards, and with increasing frequency in later years, some entries have a single letter or mark in the margin, but the register gives no explanation of their meanings. The letters are mostly O, A, D, R. The marks are a horizontal, or more usually a vertical dash (represented in our Notes as ! or 1), or a cross mark similar to a plus sign or an x, or somewhere between (represented in our Notes as x or +). We do not know the precise meaning of the marks, though some may refer to the death of the baptised as an infant.

Peter Wood
December 2008

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1558 - 1625 with Surname Index

The Register for 1558 - 1625 is divided into batches covering 10 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1558 - 1567   1568 - 1577   1578 - 1587   1588 - 1597   1598 - 1607   1608 - 1617   1618 - 1625 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1700 - 1724 with Surname Index

The Register for 1700 - 1724 is divided into batches covering 6 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1700 - 1705   1706 - 1711   1712 - 1717   1718 - 1723   1724 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1724 - 1744 with Surname Index

The Register for 1724 - 1744 is divided into batches covering 7 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1724 - 1730   1731 - 1737   1738 - 1744 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1744 - 1756 with Surname Index

The Register for 1744 - 1756 is divided into batches covering 7 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1744 - 1750   1751 - 1756 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1757 - 1769 with Surname Index

The Register for 1757 - 1769 is divided into batches covering 5 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1757 - 1761   1762 - 1766   1767 - 1769 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1770 - 1781 with Surname Index

The Register for 1770 - 1781 is divided into batches covering 3 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1770 - 1772   1773 - 1775   1776 - 1778   1779 - 1781 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1782 - 1797 with Surname Index

The Register for 1782 - 1797 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1782 - 1783   1784 - 1785   1786 - 1787   1788 - 1789   1790 - 1791   1792 - 1793   1794 - 1795   1796 - 1797 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1798 - 1812 with Surname Index

The Register for 1798 - 1812 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1798 - 1799   1800 - 1801   1802 - 1803   1804 - 1805   1806 - 1807   1808 - 1809   1810 - 1811   1812 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1813 - 1818 with Surname Index

The Register for 1813 - 1818 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1813 - 1814   1815 - 1816   1817 - 1818 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1818 - 1821 with Surname Index

The Register for 1818 - 1821 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1818 - 1819   1820 - 1821 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1821 - 1825 with Surname Index

The Register for 1821 - 1825 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1821 - 1822   1823 - 1824   1825 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1825 - 1829 with Surname Index

The Register for 1825 - 1829 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1825 - 1826   1827 - 1828   1829 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1829 - 1834 with Surname Index

The Register for 1829 - 1834 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1829 - 1830   1831 - 1832   1833 - 1834 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1834 - 1839 with Surname Index

The Register for 1834 - 1839 is divided into batches covering 2 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1834 - 1835   1836 - 1837   1838 - 1839 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1839 - 1849 with Surname Index

The Register for 1839 - 1849 is divided into batches covering 4 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1839 - 1842   1843 - 1846   1847 - 1849 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1849 - 1885 with Surname Index

The Register for 1849 - 1885 is divided into batches covering 13 years
Batches for the individual years may be accessed via the links below

 1849 - 1861   1862 - 1874   1875 - 1885 

The Register for Baptisms at St Mary the Virgin 1885 - 1901 with Surname Index

There are 45739 Baptism Records extracted for this Church

A combined index for all the above registers may be accessed through the links below.

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