The Parish of Standish in the County of -- Lancashire --

Standish Parish Resources

The Church of St Wilfrids is located at Landranger Grid: SD 563102

Parish records for the church exist as follws:

Searchable transcripts of these parish records are in preparation and further information may be obtained by contacting the Online Parish Clerk by clicking on the paper contact symbol in the left margin of this page.

LancashireBMD is making progress in indexing births, marriages and deaths that were registered in this district. It is recommended to review their site. This provides access to births, marriages and deaths registered only AFTER 1st July 1837 and allows you to order the certificate from the local registry office instead of the national registration system. Do check the coverage link to see what records have been transcribed. Marriages at the parish church should also be in the parish church records.

FreeBMD may also be consulted for births, marriages and deaths registered in this district after 1st July 1837. This is also a work in progress that is not yet complete.

Monumental Inscription do not appear to have been transcribed for sale so if you know of any, please let me know.

A list of the Rectors of St. Wilfrid's can be seen here: Rectors list

Standish and the relationship to other townships

The ancient parish of Standish consisted of Standish with Langtree and the 9 townships listed below. Until the 19th Century the parish was the basic unit for ecclesiastical and civil government. The townships were generally responsible for poor relief, road maintenance and rates (local taxes). Some townships had chapels or churches of their own as the parish of Standish was quite large. However, all baptisms, marriages and burials throughout the parish of Standish were listed on the registers of St. Wilfrid's until the following chapelries were able to start maintaining their own records: Coppull 1757, Adlington 1839, Charnock Richard 1860 and Shevington 1873. As such, someone may have been baptized at Standish but be resident in another township.

Adjacent parishes and townships:

Population Survey for Standish and District in 1811 and 1821

CENSUS RECORDS

Transcripts of the 1841 census for the Standish area are being made available here:

Census Transcripts

You should also consult the FreeCEN site although it is only just getting started and not much may be available.

Copies of the census books have been made available or are in process by Stepping Stones, S&N Genealogy and Archive CD Project. The various census and other records can be searched online at: Familysearch

All census transcriptions should be used as an index as the original records may be in very poor shape and pencil was used to record much of the original information. Some searchers have found ancestors by searching on first names, so be creative.

CHURCH AND PARISH RECORDS

For most of the 18th and 19th Century some 25% of the population of Standish were Catholic, so Catholic records may contain useful information for your antecedents. The Chapel at Standish Hall and St. Marie's Church has records dating from 1728 to 1864 which have been transcribed. There are many gaps in the records but some records are available below. Given the importance of Catholic records in Standish it is recommended that you consult The Northwest Catholic History Society and consider purchasing some of their useful materials.

Standish Hall Chapel Baptisms (420 KB)

The link above is to an index of the St. Marie's Church provided by Philip Fairclough. Another transcription of the registers was provided by the Northwest Catholic History Society and it is available here:

St. Maries Baptisms 1728 -1799 (575 KB)

St. Maries Baptisms 1800 -1840 (815 KB)

St. Maries Marriages 1743 -1839 (64KB)

St. Maries Burial Register 1770 -1870 (240KB)

The following transcripts are helpful in identifying members of the Catholic community at the time the lists were compiled:

Standish Catholic Census 1764 (45 KB)

Standish (Coppull) Catholic list 1767 (35KB)