Frodsham Cheshire Family History Guide

Frodsham is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Cheshire. Norley is a chapelry of Frodsham.

Other places in the parish include: Newton by Frodsham, Overton, Woodhouses, Netherton, Manley, Kingsley St John the Evangelist, Kingsley, Helsby, Frodsham Lordship, and Bradley.

Parish church: St. Lawrence

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1558
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1603

Separate registers exist for Kingsley St John the Evangelist

Parish registers: 1851
Bishop’s Transcripts: None

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Primitive Methodist, Society of Friends/Quaker, Wesleyan Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist Association. 

Adjacent Parishes

• Weaverham
• Delamere
• Alvanley
• Runcorn
• Ince
• Thornton le Moors
• Aston by Sutton
• Runcorn Weston St John
• Norley

Old Maps of Frodsham

All the historic ordnance survey maps listed below are free to view online. All maps are available to view full screen.

UK Great Britain, Ordnance Survey (1:1 million-1:10,560), 1900s

UK Great Britain, Ordnance Survey one-inch to the mile (1:63,360), ‘Hills’ edition, 1885-1903

UK Great Britain, Ordnance Survey six-inch to the mile (1:10,560), 1888-1913

UK Ordnance Survey Historical Maps from 1919-1947

UK Great Britain, Ordnance Survey ‘Provisional’ edition (1:25,000), 1937-1961

UK Great Britain, Ordnance Survey One-Inch Seventh Series (1:63,360), 1955-1961

Parish History

Frodsham

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

FRODSHAM, a small town, a township, a lordship, a parish, and a sub-district in Runcorn district, Cheshire.

The town stands, amid pleasant environs, on an eminence at the foot of the hills forming the northern extremity of Delamere forest, near the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Mersey, adjacent to the Chester and Warrington railway, 10 miles NE of Chester.

It consists chiefly of two long and well-paved streets, intersecting each other at right angles. At the east end of it is a stone bridge over the Weaver; and at the west end stood Frodsham Castle, supposed to have been of Norman origin, given by Edward I. to David, the brother of Llewelyn, the last sovereign prince of Wales, given afterwards to the Savages, Earls Rivers, and burnt in 1642. A handsome modern house occupies the site of the castle.

The town has a post office under Preston Brook, a railway station, a harbour for small vessels, and two chief inns; and fairs are held at it on 16 May, 21 Aug., and 13 Dec. Beacon hill, adjacent to it, was formerly surmounted by a beacon; is traversed, round the brow, by a fine walk, commanding a rich and extensive view; and has, or recently had, at its foot, butts for the practice of archery.

A place called Frodsham Bridge, on the Mersey, about a mile from the town, has a bridge over the Mersey, a graving dock, some salt pits, and a post office under Preston Brook.

The township of Frodsham comprises 2,256 acres. Real property, £8,376; of which £50 are in gas-works. Pop., 1,869. Houses, 389.

The lord-ship of Frodsham adjoins the township on the NE; and consists of the hamlets of Bradley, Netherton, Overton, and Woodhouses. Acres, 3,524; of which 945 are water. Real property, £5,190. Pop., 968. Houses, 190.

The parish contains also the townships of Helsby, Alvanley, Manley, Newton-by-Frodsham, Kingsley, and Norley. Acres, 14,288; of which 945 are water. Real property, £29,889; of which £65 are in quarries. Pop. in 1851, 6,382; in 1861, 5,890. Houses, 1,183. The decrease of pop. was occasioned by discontinuance of labour on railway works and in quarries.

The manor was held by the successive owners of Frodsham Castle; and passed to the Earl of Cholmondeley. Large quantities of potatoes are raised for the markets of Lancashire. Many of the inhabitants are employed in salt works, flour mills, cotton manufacture, and stone quarries.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester. Value, £590. Patron, Christ Church, Oxford. The church stands on the hill adjacent to the town; is within Overton hamlet; and has Norman parts.

The chapelries of Alvanley, Kingsley, and Norley are separate benefices.

There are seven dissenting chapels, a national school, a grammar school with £40 from endowment, and other charities with £73. Persons are recorded to have died in the parish at the ages of 102, 104, 107, and 141.

The sub-district includes also the township of Delamere. Acres, 14,388 Pop., 6,050. Houses, 1,212.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

FRODSHAM (St. Lawrence), a market-town and a parish, in the union of Runcorn, Second division of the hundred of Eddisbury, S. division of the county of Chester, 4 miles (W. S. W.) from Preston-Brook, 10 (N. E. by N.) from Chester, and 192 (N. N. W.) from London; comprising the lordship of Frodsham, and the townships of Alvanley, Frodsham, Helsby, Kingsley, Manley, Newton-by-Frodsham, and Norley; and containing 5821 inhabitants, of whom 1806 are in the township, and 1022 in the lordship, of Frodsham.

This place is mentioned in Domesday book as the property of the Earl of Chester. A charter was granted about 1220 by Ranulph de Blundeville, sixth earl, to the inhabitants of Frodsham, which was pleaded in answer to a writ of Quo Warranto issued in the 22nd of Henry VII., and was confirmed in the 33rd of Henry VIII. and 21st of Elizabeth; but the manor having been separated from the earldom, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, the chartered privileges of the burgesses expired.

The Town is situated on an eminence on the bank of the river Weaver, near its confluence with the Mersey, and consists of a broad street, a mile in length, extending along the road from Chester to Warrington, and another branching from it and leading to the church. At the east end is a stone bridge of four arches over the Weaver, which is navigable here; and at the west end stood a Norman castle. Courts leet and baron are held in the spring and at Michaelmas.

The lord of the manor, the Marquess of Cholmondeley, has the tolls of a market held on Saturday, and of two fairs, on the last Tuesday in April, and the last Thursday in October; but the market, owing to the vicinity of Warrington, is inconsiderable. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway has a station at Preston-Brook.

The parish (whose population is entirely agricultural) is 32¼ miles in circumference, and contains about 15,000 acres, whereof 2169 are in the township, and 2522 in the lordship, of Frodsham.

The Living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £23. 13. 11½.; net income, £590; patrons, the Dean and Canons of Christ-Church, Oxford. There are 50 acres of glebe. The church stands on elevated ground, in the village of Overton, is built of red freestone, and appears to be of high antiquity, the nave displaying traces of Norman architecture.

At Alvanley is a church, and at Norley another; and the Wesleyans have a place of worship.

A school, erected about 1660, near the church, was rebuilt in 1824, and is supported by endowment; national schools for girls are maintained by subscription, and various benefactions are distributed among the poor.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Kingsley

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

KINGSLEY, a township, in the parish of Frodsham, union of Runcorn, hundred of Eddisbury, S. division of the county of Chester, 3¾ miles (S. E.) from Frodsham; containing 1007 inhabitants.

It comprises 2451 acres, of a clayey and a sandy soil. Courts leet are held here.

A chapel has been built for this township and Norley, containing 314 sittings, of which 164 are free.

There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a school is endowed with four acres and a half of land.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Frodsham

Kingsley

Administration

• County: Cheshire
• Civil Registration District: Runcorn
• Probate Court: Pre-1541 – Court of the Bishop of Lichfield (Episcopal Consistory), Post-1540 – Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
• Diocese: Pre-1541 – Lichfield and Coventry, Post-1540 – Chester
• Rural Deanery: Frodsham
• Poor Law Union: Runcorn
• Hundred: Eddisbury
• Province: York