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Church registers guide
This is a detailed guide to our holdings of Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist church registers and all copies and transcripts of these.
Anglican church registers
This handlist, in alphabetical order of Anglican parish, includes all the main sources for tracing your ancestors in Church of England records. These include parish registers, bishops transcripts, copy registers and records of monumental inscriptions.
Lancashire Archives is responsible for and holds most original records of Anglican parishes in the diocese of Blackburn. It also holds records for some deaneries in the diocese of Liverpool and for parishes in the diocese of Leeds which transferred to Lancashire in 1974.
Historically many Lancashire parishes covered a very large area. They were often subdivided into chapelries, each with its own church. Later the chapelries become parishes in their own right. The former parishes are known as 'ancient parishes' and, in this handlist, are given in brackets after each place name and dedication.
Parish list:
A-Z list of Anglican records
Workhouse and hospitals
Roman Catholic church registers
This handlist, in alphabetical order of Roman Catholic parish, includes the main sources for tracing your ancestors in Roman Catholic records. These include parish registers, bishop’s transcripts and copy registers.
Lancashire Archives is responsible for the archives of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Lancaster, Liverpool, and Salford although many Roman Catholic registers are still kept in their respective parishes.
Parish list:
A-Z list of Roman Catholic records
Non-Conformist
This handlist, in alphabetical order of place, includes the main sources for tracing your ancestors in Non-Conformist records.
Lancashire Archives holds original records of Non-Conformist churches in the post-1974 county of Lancashire, including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool.
In 1837 most existing Non-Conformist registers were deposited in Somerset House in London and later transferred to the Public Record Office (now The National Archives) where they are still held. Lancashire Archives has microfilm copies of these registers which are included in this handlist (reference MF 1). A few pre-1837 registers failed to reach London, or were copied before they were sent, and these have, in some cases, been deposited at Lancashire Archives.
Church list:
A-Z list of United Reformed records
A-Z list of Congregational records