WARNING: The correct use of any parish data from this project requires initial reading of the GENERAL NOTES as well as of the specific PARISH NOTES.
Volume 1, 1594-1653 separate sequences of events. There is a gap in the baptisms in the register from 1652/10/25 (Milnes) to 1653/10/01, when the register begins to record births. There is a gap in marriages 1608-1612. Burials are incomplete: there are no records from 1606/08/21 to 1610/04/13 and sometimes for a month or so elsewhere, eg in 1622.
Volume 2, 1653-1706 separate sequences of events, but gives births 1653-1661, and exceptionally thereafter.
There are gaps in the marriages from 1658/05/03 to 1663/04/27, and gaps in all events around 1671.
There is a separate sequence of records of births for 1697 to 1705/6, and the birth dates have been included in the relevant baptismal entries.
See A. J. Gautrey, ‘Births and baptisms at Rostherne, 1697-1705’, (Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, CXXIX, 1980), pp. 163-4.
The baptismal register for 1704 is arranged in date order of christenings from the various townships in the parish of Rostherne: i.e. 6 baptisms for Rostern, 11 from Leigh, 4 for Meire, 7 for Tably, 6 for Bollington and Millington from Mar to Sept.
Similarly for October to March 1705. Date order resumes in 1705.
Volume 3, 1705-1736 separate sequences of events
Volume 4, 1736-1784 separate sequences of events
Baptisms and Burials 1736-1784
Marriages 1736-1754
There is a section of disordered dates after 1774/05/22 (Bailey) in baptisms with 10 entries at random dates from the years 1775-77.
Date order resumes on a new page in the register from 1774/06/04 (Street).
Disorder with entries inserted between others continues into the 1790s (see volume 5)
Volume 5, 1784-1812 separate sequences of events
Baptisms and Burials
After 1794 baptisms give date of birth
See note on date order for volume 4
Baptismal registers in 2 volumes, 1813-1838, and 1839-1919
Marriage registers in 6 volumes, 1754-1768, 1769-1789, 1789-1812, 1813-1837, 1837-1870, 1871-1922.
Between 1764 and 1768 the bishops’ transcripts (BTs) give townships (apparently of the grooms) but the parish register does not.
Burial registers in 2 volumes, 1813-1843, 1844-1874
A register of graves 1784-1903 is not here transcribed
Latin:
Baptism entries are in Latin from 1630/07/12 (Chedocke) to 1631/03/08 (Fernhead).
Latin baptism entries 1672/04/09 (Warburton) to 1673/01/07 (Antrobus).
In marriages from 1631/06/24 (Finlowe /Pownall) to 1653 (Broadhurst/Jackson) the register is in Latin
BTs Lacking
1594-1606, 1607, 1608, 1609-11, 1614, 1615, 1617-20, 1624-6, 1628-29 (or 30?), 1634, 1637-39, 1640-57, 1662, 1664, 1667, 1677, 1678 and 1679, unreadable, 1686, 1697, part 1706, 1729 (part?), 1730 (Bu), 1739, 1740, 1800, 1802 (first quarter).
BT ends 1837/06/29; no records from then to end of 1843, and there are no BTs for baptisms for 1850, No BTs of burials 1851-1868.
No Bts for marriages for 1686-89, 1802
Dates:
Old style dates to 1754
Bu 1739/01/25 (Stretch) Name uncertain. Maybe Ardless (BT faded)
Bu 1746/05/16 (Peacock) Marginal note ‘No affidavit brought in ccording to the times directed by the Act of Parliament for Thomas Peacock of High Leigh yeoman’
Bu 1746/06/01 (Moss) Marginal note ‘No affidavit brought in for Margaret daughter of Jane Moss of Altringham’
Bu 1758/02/19 (Shaw) Entry is crossed out but reads ‘John base begotten son of Esther Shaw of Dunham Massy by John Dunn of Bollington’
Bu 1778/06/17 (Hulme) Entry reads ‘John son of William and Charlotte Hulme of Manchester son of John Hulme of Mere Taylor by Mary Smith of Millington) an infant’
Bu 1812/04/25 (Coups) Beside entry is note in L hand margin indistinct words, too faint to see whether an additional entry or other comment
Bu 1866/01/13 (Symms) Crossed out entry of 1866/01/01 also of Sarah Symms
BT only
Baptisms
Ba 1662/01/20 (Okes) BT only
Ba 1622/01/20 (Coe) BT only
Ba 1622/02/02 (Venables) BT only
Ba 1622/02/02 (Astley) BT only
Ba 1622/02/02 (Newton) BT only
Ba 1622/02/02 (Bradshall) BT only
Ba 1622/02/02 (Finney) BT only
Ba 1622/02/24 (Ingham ) BT only
Ba 1622/02/24 (Eardsley) BT only
Ba 1622/03/04 (Gandie) BT only
Ba 1622/03/22 (Barrett) BT only
Ba 1659/12/24 (Orcheston) 2 entries BT only
Ba 1660/05/25 (Kerfoote) BT only
Ba 1661/01/09 (Kerfoote) BT only
Ba 1663/06/04 (Crofoot) BT only
Ba 1663/08/07 (Kinder) BT only
Ba 1663/09/27 (Dale) BT only
Ba 1664/04/29 (Bostock) BT only
Ba 1666/03/19 (Leadbetter) BT only
Ba 1670/04/26 (Webster) BT only
Ba 1671/08/28 (Dale) BT only
Ba 1683/08/13 (Aumsly) Bt only
Ba 1683/01/22 (Furnifull) BT only
Ba 1683/01/22 (Occleston) BT only
Ba 1690/12/13 (Havard) BT only
Ba 1775/07/25 (Garner) BTonly
Ba 1776/11/24 (Hardy) BT only
Ba 1777/07/31 (Legh) BT only
Ba 1777/08/13 (Mary Allen) BT only
Ba 1777/08/13 (Betty Allen) BT only
Ba 1798/00/00 (Berry) BT only
Ba 1803/12/00 (Coleshill) BT only
Burials
Bu 1632/06/26 (Brampton) BT only
Bu 1658/04/08 (Sprostorne) BT only
Bu 1681/02/07 (Clife) BT only
Bu 1683/12/21 (Wyat) BT only
Bu 1684/03/11 (Mills) BT only. This may be the same Nathan Mills buried on a different date in the PR
Bu 1691/12/15 (Odford) BT only
Bu 1694/09/01 (Longton) BT only
Bu 1703/05/15 (Jameman) BT only (stillborn)
Marriages
Ma 1670/04/15 (Norbury/Johnson) BT only
Ma 1670/05/22 (Gleave/Baslow) BT only
Ma 1670/09/29 (Allen/Royles) BT only
Ma 1670/10/02 (Clough/Grange) BT only
Ma 1670/10/16 (Cooper/Oldcroft) BT only
Ma 1670/11/06 (Blease/Uxley) BT only
Ma 1670/12/25 (Bostock/Hilton) BT only
Ma 1670/12/27 (Hollinpriest/Johnson) BT only
Ma 1671/01/04 (Okel/Harper) BT only
Ma 1671/02/02 (Jackson/Moss) BT only
Ma 1671/02/12 (Mosse/Bitlingham) BT only
Ma 1671/03/06 (Shaw/Hybut) BT only
Ma 1671/03/10 (Steel/White) BT only
Ma 1671/11/21 (Jenkinson/Jackson) BT only
Ma 1671/11/31 (Worsley/Gleave) BT only
Ma 1683/04/26 (Morton/Owen) BT only
Volume 2
Baptisms, 1694 at foot of page ‘By me John Brook[ing] Parish Clarke and registered [zzz]’. Similar entry at foot of page for burials, 1695.
At end of baptisms, November 1697 ‘A postscript for some in High Legh’ followed by baptismal records.
Volume 4
1761/07/14 After baptism ‘Mr Salt began here.’
1761/10/02 After burial ‘Mr Salt began here.’
1764/05/13, baptism, note: ‘Mr Sandbach left of here’.
1764/11/09, burial, and 1764/12/02, baptism, ‘Here began to receive surplice fee’.
1768/03/28, after burial ‘The vicar died here’. [Cf Clergy below
1768/05/23, after burial ‘Mr Powell began here Mr Powell’.
Volume 5
Burials punctuated at intervals with ‘Copied’, or ‘Duties paid’.
1787/10/06 (Birkin) burial register, after this entry is a note ‘Here Mr Powell ended’.
1794/07/04, 1794/12/17, 1795/12/16, 1796/12/29, 1797/12/25, burial register: a note beneath each of these dates, ‘Have settled with Mr Jackson (or Rev Mr Jackson)’.
1794 after baptisms, ‘Here also Parliament [?] began to receive and pay the duties. Shalcross Jacson, vicar’.
After 1808/10/02 (Southern), baptism, After this entry is a note, ‘Mr Parker Curate commenced 10th Oct 1808.’
1809/04/02 (Ockleston) After this entry is a note ‘Settled 3rd April W Parker.’
1809/10/01 (Adkinson) After this entry is a note, ‘Mr Mayow arrived at Rosthern Oct 14th 1809’
1810/11/25 after burial, marginal note ‘Settled with Wm Mayow.’
1842/07/31 Baptisms, entry marked ‘x’ and noted at the bottom of the sheet, ‘Began the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism after the second lesson in the evening service, on this day. J.Hordern, Vicar.’
Vicars [In [ ] below supplied from Ormerod]
1598-1608 John Cheaddocke [buried 1630]
[Before 1630 Wm Shenton
Before 1660 Adam Martendale
Before 1669 Benjamin Crosse]
1727-9 John Hayward [Appointed 1726]
[1730 John Addenbrooke]
1736-56 Robt Frodsham [Appointed 1738]
[1758 Ellis Farnworth] Cf Oddities above, 1768/03/28
1764-89 Joshua Powell (Cf 1787 in Oddities above)
1783-1819 Shallcross Jacson [Appointed 1787]
1821-54 J Hordern (1855 J Hordern given as ‘Vicar of Burton Agnes’)
Curates
722 John Robinson
1726-7 Tho Royle
1729 William Leigh
1760 Mr Sandbach
1761 Mr Salt
1764-68 Henry Ainsworth
1808-09 Wm Parker
1809-11 Mr Mayow
1819 J Hordern
Churchwardens
[Note: the apparent confusion of years in some of the lists below requires further elucidation, but the names have been given here as on the note sheets. CBP.]
1720* [* = from BT] Peter Newton (mark), John Barlow (mark), Wm Twemlow (mark), Thos Robinson (mark);
1721 (OS) Joseph Ward, Thomas Key, John Bate, Robt Wild, William W. Chaddock (his mark);
1722 Ricd Heys, John Percival, George Robinson, Jos Brown, John Twiss;
[In Marriage register, at Apr 1722 Joseph Ward, Thomas Key, John Bate, Robert Widd, William Chaddock]
1723 Joseph Jackson, Saml Norbury, John Leather, Thos Gleave, Henry Hope (mark);
[In marriage register at Jan 1723 Richard Heys, Edw Percival, George Robinson, Jos Brown, John Twiss]
1723 Nathan Worthington, Henry Brotherton, Sam Byrom, Saml Partington,
John Twiss
In marriage register at Feb 1724 Hy Jackson, John Leather, Saml Norbury, Thos Gleave, Henry Hope
1725 * Thomas Street, Thomas Okell, Geo Robinson, Thomas Boone (mark) Jos Davis; [In marriage register at Feb 1725 Nathan Hankinson, Saml Byrom, Henry Brotherton, Saml Partington, John Twiss]
1726* J Harrison, John Whitehead, John Leather, John Hulme, John Hall,
1727 Willm Massey, John Leather, Rob Whittaker, Jno Owen, Jno Adkinson;
1728 Thomas Okell, Peter Newton, Samuel Furnifall, William Green, Joseph Halliwell;
1729 Peter Newton, Joseph Ocklestone, Samuel Furnifall, John Shaw, Joseph Halliwell;
1741-44 James Wright; Thos Starkey, Robt Wood, Joseph Brown, William Leigh
1744 Tho Starkey, William Leigh, Jos Brown, James Wright, Robt Wood;
1745 Thos Starkey;
1746 Joseph Brown, Robt Wood;
1747 Thos Starkey, William Leigh;
1748 Thos Starkey, Robt Wood;
1749 Thos Starkey, William Leigh;
1750 John Peacock, William Leigh;
1751 Peter Newton (Kenyon?), Thos Whitfield;
1752 Peter Newton (Kenyon?), Thomas Jenkinson;
1753 John Coe, (May) Richd Clark, John Ockleston, Thos Jenkinson;
1753 (end) Joseph Armstrong, ZZZZ Dickin, Robert Leigh;
1754 Joseph Armstrong, Robert Lea, John Bleaze;
1755 John Bleaze;
1756 William Boond, Wm ZZZ;
1759 J Hollinworth
The ancient parish of Rostherne lies to the south of Altrincham. The parish of Rostherne was made up of three sections. In the east was the chapelry of Over Peeover, treated as a distinct chapelry in Gastrell’s Notitiaof c.1720. It became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1827 as Over Peeover. It has its own registers (which will be treated separately under its own name in this database) beginning from before 1664, and including marriages. The centre of the parish was made up of the chapelry of Knutsford also treated as a distinct chapelry in Gastrell’s Notitia of c.1720. Knutsford’s registers begin in 1581, and will be treated separately under its own name in this database). To the west of Knutsford chapelry lay the main portion of the parish of Rostherne, here dealt with and comprising the townships of Agden (part, including a detached portion, rest in Bowdon parish), Bollington (part, including detached portions, rest in Bowdon parish), High Legh, Mere, Millington, Rostherne, Tabley Superior (Over Tabley), and Tatton (see also note on volume 2 under Registers above). The adjacent ancient parishes to the western section were, clockwise from the north, Bowdon, Mobberley, then Knutsford chapelry, Great Budworth parish, and Lymm parish. New parishes were created from the western section of Rostherne as follows. Bollington Holy Trinity, created in 1869, included Agden and Bollington, but Williams records parish records beginning in 1851, though the list in the Record Office gives a start date of 1870 for registers. High Legh became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1817, but this status was not sustained. Williams says the Registers, not included here, begin in 1815 (baptisms only). Tabley Superior (Over Tabley) became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1855 as Over Tabley. Williams says its registers begin in that year.
The vicar of Rostherne between 1649 and 1662 was the Revd Adam Martindale, whose autobiography is in print, The life of Adam Martindale: written by himself, and now first printed from the original Manuscript in the British Museum, ed. R. Parkinson (Chetham Society, old series, IV, 1845).
The population of the ancient parish of Rostherne parish, excluding the chapelries of Knutsford and of Over Peeover, can be estimated by the number of households in ecclesiastical ‘censuses’ of 1563 (227 households or families), c.1720 (488), and in 1778 (364 houses). The sum of the number of households in the 1664 hearth tax was 398. The population of the ancient parish excluding the chapelries of Knutsford and of Over Peeover in 1801, was 2,228 (excluding the parts of Agden and Bollington townships in the parish of Bowdon), and 3,041 in 1871 (including the parts of Agden and Bollington townships in Rostherne).
Transcript of the parish register from 1596-1725 in the library of the Society of Genealogists.
North Cheshire Family History Society, ‘Monumental inscriptions in the parish church of St Mary Rostherne’, (1978)
Owens MSS, Manchester Central Library, vols 34-39,
transcript of monumental inscriptions to 1879
Colin Phillips compiled these notes, using a digest, made by Susan George, of the information collected by transcribers and recorded with each transcription pad. Further information about the make-up of the register volumes came from the list in the Cheshire Record Office, which also provided some details of the evolution of the ancient parish. Extra detail on vicars came from G. Ormerod, The history of the County Palatine and City of Chester, ed. T. Helsby (3 vols; London, 1882), I, pp. 438-39.
The population estimates were gathered as follows: 1563: The diocesan population returns for 1563 and 1603, ed. A. D. Dyer and D. M. Palliser (British Academy: records of social and economic history, new series, vol. XXXI, 2005), p. 83; count of households 1664: The National Archive, Exchequer, E. 179/86/145 (on microfilm), hearth tax returns; c. 1720 F. Gastrell, Notitia Cestriensis, ed. F. R. Raines, vol. I (Chetham Society, old series, VIII, 1845), p. 338; and 1778: Cheshire RO, Diocese of Chester, EDV/7/1 (on microfilm). For 1801 and 1871 see VCH Cheshire, vol. II, p. 228.
Further details on the evolution of the parish came from Guide to the local administrative units of England, Vol. II Northern England, ed. F.A. Youngs, Jr (1991), pp. 5, 9, 24, 32-33, 37; C. M. Williams, Guide to the Cheshire Record Office ([Chester], 1991), pp. 80, 83, 85; and Gastrell, Notitia, pp. 342, 347. For the complicated geography of the ancient parish and its townships and chapelries see the Base Map in A.D.M. Phillips and C. B. Phillips, A new historical atlas of Cheshire (Chester, 2002).