Downham, Lancashire Family History Guide

Downham is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1723 from Whalley Ancient Parish.

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

• Parish registers: 1653
• Bishop’s Transcripts: 1606

Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

• Newchurch in Pendle
• Whalley
• Gisburn
• Chatburn
• Grindleton

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

DOWNHAM, a township and a chapelry in Whalley parish, Lancashire. The township lies on the river Ribble, at the boundary with Yorkshire, 2 miles NE of Chatburn r. station, and 3 NE of Clitheroe; and has a post office under Blackburn. Acres, 1,870. Real property, £2,211. Pop., 292. Houses, 70. The chapelry is larger than the township. Pop., 433. The property is divided among a few. The manor, with Downham Hall, belongs to the Asshetons. Some of the inhabitants are cotton-spinners. Limestone, of curiously fossiliferous character, is quarried. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Manchester. Value, £129. Patrons, Hulme's Trustees. The church is good; and there is a Wesleyan chapel. A school has £26 from endowment; and other charities £10.

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

Administration

County: Lancashire
Civil Registration District: Clitheroe
Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
Diocese: Manchester
Rural Deanery: Whalley
Poor Law Union: Clitheroe
Hundred: Blackburn
Province: York