Congregation Church Records

[sheila illidge]

Could anyone please tell me where the records from the Congregation Church on Crow Lane Newton le Willows are kept? I am searching for records from early 1900's. Kindly e-mail me at joshe@tinyworld.co.uk.

[Kirsty]

Hi Sheila,

I'm also interested in the registers/records of the Crow Lane Congregational Church.

I'm not sure if the original registers have ever been copied onto micro film or fiche. If (and that's a big if) they have I don't think they are readily available. I do know that St. Helens library (which covers Newton for family historians purposes) does not hold any copies or transcripts of the churches parish registers.

The Congregational church joined with the English Presbyterian church in 1972 and became the United Reformed Church.

The United Reformed Church has their own web-site:
http://www.urc.org.uk/

It might be worth getting in touch with the United Reform Church directly to see if they can point you in the direction of the records you are after.


Good luck with your search. Kirsty

[Kirsty]

Hi,

Only me again...

Just a quick post to say that I've just contacted the United Reformed Church by e-mail.

I'll be sure to post any response I receive for anyone reading interested in the Crow Lane Congregational Church records.


Best Wishes, Kirsty

[Kirsty]

Hi All,

I've been in touch with the secretary of the United Reformed Church (formerly the Congregational Church) in Newton-le-Willows (now located in Chapel Street off Cross Lane).

Information for anyone interested in the records (baptisms, marriages & burials) of the Congregational/United Reformed Church:

...church records were passed on to the Archives Department at St. Helens Council where they are safely stored and are available for inspection on request to that department. The head of Archives is Mrs. Vivian Hainsworth. For details you would need to visit St. Helens Council's Archive Office. The telephone number for the Council is 01744 456 789...

The frustrating part of this for me is that I was in St. Helens Local History and Archives Library a few months ago and asked about the Congregational/United Reformed Church records and the person I spoke to musn't have realised the records where held by St. Helens council as she was unable to help me .

Well at least I know where to go now for the records.

That's all from me for now.

Cheers, Kirsty

[Kirsty]

Hi All,

The plot thickens...

I've spoke to St. Helens library this morning and learnt that they hold the following Congregational / United Reformed Church records for Newton-le-Willows:

Baptisms: 1970 – 1992 (original records)
Marriages: 1954 – 2000 (original records)
Burials: 1847 – 1970 (photo-copy)
Monumental Inscriptions

The photo-copy of the burials and the details of the MI's are open to anyone to view but I was advised that the marriage and baptism registers can only be accessed by people to who the records pertain. Meaning if it's your own baptism or marriage you're looking for you can have the details looked-up for you but otherwise the records are off limits.

Imagine my frustration .

I still haven't learned where the pre-1970 baptisms are or the pre-1954 marriages are. I am hoping to get to the bottom of this little mystery and will post details of anything new I learn.

TTFN, Kirsty

[Kirsty]

Hi All,

I've got an up-date on the Congregational Church Records.

St. Helens library have now "found" the following records:

Baptisms - from 1865 to 1880.
Marriages - from 1843 to 1863 and 1864 to 1880.

Also, I believe St. Helens library are now feeling a little more relaxed about people viewing these records. I've been corresponding with a very helpful member of the United Reformed Church who said...

...I did question their [St. Helens Library] refusal to allow our records to be viewed and they came up with the excuse of "Data Protection Act". My response was that they were our records and they should be available for inspection by anyone, even if our church has to initially give its consent. The lady seemed to accept that as reasonable...

Hurrah for the United Reformed Church I say

Well I'm hoping to view the records sometime next week. Fingers crossed everything will go smoothly .

TTFN, Kirsty

[sheila illidge]

Hi Kirsty,
Splendid hard work on your part in finding these records, well done. You do seem to have a good idea how and where to get your answers. Was there any mention of the records for the early 1900's? I feel these would be a great help in my search.
Cheers, Sheila.

[Kirsty]

Hi Sheila,

The records that would cover 1880 well into the mid-1900's are still among the "missing" records.

I've not heard anything new about the records covering these dates but will be sure to post anything new I learn of.

If you wanted to pursue this yourself I can suggest two avenues of attack so to speak;
1) Contact the secretary of the UFC in Newton.
2) Phone St. Helens Local History and Archives Library on 01744 456952.

It might actually be helpful for you to speak to St. Helens library as it may help spur them on to find the missing records. In fact, they may have located them by now but I just simply haven't heard about it. They are open between 9.30 am and 4.00 pm tomorrow if you wanted to give them a try.

Hope this helps. Best Wishes, Kirsty

[Kirsty]

Latest Information on Newton-le-Willows, Crow Lane Independent Chapel / Congregational Church / United Reformed Church records:

The ONLY registers St. Helens library currently hold are as follows:

Baptisms: 1970 - 1992 (closed to all except data subjects)
Marriages: 1954 - 2000 (closed to all except data subjects)
Burials: Photocopies of burial register 1947 - 1970's.

St. Helens library has several church meetings minute books. In one of the minute books are a list of baptisms covering the years 1865 - 1880. I'm unsure how complete this list is. Without comparing it to the original register there is no way of knowing.

My advice to anyone wishing to view the baptismal, marriage and burial records of the Crow Lane Independent Chapel / Congregational / United Reformed Church is to contact the church directly.

Best Wishes, Kirsty

[Ironside0]

Hi Kirsty,
strange as it might sound some records,esp marriages are still at Warrington register office,they held all the records for these churches prior to boundry re organisation,the reason that they kept the marriage ones was becauase a registrar had to be present as the church was not 'recognised'-this is what they told me and i have found copys of marriage certs for 1860-1880 ish for some of my relatives at Warrington even though they lived in Newton and were married there.Try the Cheshire BMD site which has a good search function
Hope this helps

Regards

Dave

[Kirsty]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the forum .

As far as I understand it all non Church of England marriages are "Registrar Attended". I was married in a Roman Catholic Church and we had a registrar as the Catholic Ceremony by its self didn't marry my husband and I in the eyes of the law.

It makes sense about some marriage records being held in registry offices (not strange at all ) - thanks for the suggestion. And it would be Warrington for the dates you mention as Warrington was the registration district for BMD's in Newton-in-Makerfield between 1837 and 1934.

I'm familiar with Cheshire BMD but haven’t looked through the index for a while - I'll have to give it a go.

For anyone interested the web-address is:
http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk/

Thanks again Dave. Best Wishes, Kirsty

[Ironside0]

Hi
thanks for the welcome!
It may be of use to someone to know that Newton Libarys family history room has a small book of grave inscriptions for the church yard at the above churches,from memory it is only a list of inscriptions that could be read at the time it was done (1980's??) if the stone was unreadable or had fallen on its face then no attempt was made to move it!
It is not therefore a complete list as it dosnt have some of my family in who were buried there ( i have the newspaper reports to confirm),but it did reveal some others who i did not know about.Might be worth a try as you cant go and look for yourself any more...

Regards

Dave

[She]

Hi Sheila
If you could share with us the names, DOB and other details of the ancestors you are trying to trace- maybe some of us could help? Not a promise - but you never know.

[sheila illidge]

Hi She,
I am looking for members of the Peake family, in particular, descendants of John and Martha Peake who lived at 2 Brookes Square, Newton Le Willows in the early 1900's, they were my grandparents but sadly I never met them. The family were members of the Congregational Church on Crowe Lane. My mother was Jane Elizabeth Peake known as Bessie, she was born at Brookes Square in May 1903.
Cheers She and thanks for your suggestion, Sheila

[bob]

As this post involves records and the hard time trying to find them, -

i thought i would just add that i myself 10 years ago was asked to lodge some documents relating to my Great grandparent and his good friend the Prime Minister of New Zealand a Mr Ricard Seddon,into the St Helen's History section, where the aging documents would be looked after in a controlled environment, these documents also contain letters from Queen Alexandria to my G,Grandmother Anne, yet when searching any of this on Websites like A2A, it brings nothing at all up at all, save for one entry concerning my GG,

The point i am making is that i know these Docs are in there although not mentioned on A2A, one needs to do as Kirsty has done, you need to really push to get the information out of such institutions, god knows what could be lying around in a vault collecting dust, maybe even a plan of a Barony castle perhaps!
Nice one Kirsty,

Bob