Skelmersdale, Lancashire Family History Guide
Skelmersdale is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Lancashire, created in 1782 from a chapelry in Ormskirk Ancient Parish.
Alternative names:
Parish church: St. Paul
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1817
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1782
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
SKELMERSDALE, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Ormskirk, hundred of West Derby, S. division of Lancashire, 4 miles (E. S. E.) from Ormskirk, on the road to Wigan; containing 691 inhabitants.
At the time of the Domesday survey, this place was held by Uctred; and William Dacre subsequently held the manor under Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. In the reign of Henry VIII., Skelmersdale had become the property of the Gerards of Brynne. Sir Thomas Bootle, in 1751, purchased the estate and manor of Henry Ashurst, Esq.; and the place now gives the title of Baron to the family of Bootle-Wilbraham.
The chapelry comprises 1774 acres, whereof 108 are common. Coal is abundant, and there is a quarry of stone.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Ormskirk; net income, £142. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £220. The chapel, dedicated to St. Paul, was built in 1776, and enlarged in 1822, and is a neat structure with a campanile tower.
A parochial school has an income of £45, arising partly from an endowment by Evan Swift, Esq., in 1720.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Lancashire
- Civil Registration District: Ormskirk
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Chester (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Chester
- Rural Deanery: North Meols
- Poor Law Union: Ormskirk
- Hundred: West Derby
- Province: York