Halewood Inhabitants - Archives
Listed here are resources which are useful in researching the people of Halewood through the centuries.Many of the records are now available on subscription sites such as Ancestry and Find My Past, buts costs can be prohibitive and what is listed is usually copied from archives held in the local archives office or county archives. Many of these libraries and archives also have public access to the subscription sites.
Search Lancashire County Archives
Record Sources
Directories
Volumes such as Kellys are held in Local Record Offices and Libraries.
Listings for Halewood are also contained in the following:
- Directory for the Township of Garston 1889
- Kelly's Directory of Lancashire 1905
- Kelly's Directory of Lancashire 1918
An apportionment accompanies this survey which contains a full listing of all land ownership and tenancy through the Township (Halewood and Halebank). An original copy is held in the County Record Office (Lancashire - in Preston) and copy of this in Knowsley Archive Library at Huyton.
Halewood Enclosure
An apportionment accompanies this survey which contains a full listing of all land owners who were directly affected by the enclosure Act of 1803. An original copy is held in the County Record Office (Lancashire - in Preston) and copy of this in Knowsley Archive Library at Huyton.
Halewood Census
Census records have been taken every ten years from 1801, but must be 100 years old before they are released to the general public. Names first appeared in 1841, with limited information such as addresses and birthplace, with increasing information given from 1851 onwards.
Full collections of the original census pages are available by subscription
on Ancestry and Find My Past, but free access is available through Local Record Office Archive Libraries.
Halewood Manor Court Papers (ref DDK PR2722-2728) - Lancashire County Archives, Preston)
Manor courts were the lowest of the Medieval English courts and related to small geographical areas, as such the business dealt with was local
Decisions made by these courts were determined by manorial custom, which might differ slightly between manors and regions, as such, it may not always be possible to draw direct comparisons between two separate manors
The chief authority in a manorial court came from the lord of the manor, which allowed significant room for an individual to exercise their own will, albeit within the bounds of established manorial custom
Manor courts were established in part to deal with local disputes, settlement of debts, cases of petty theft and minor assaults, judgements of which were recorded in documents created by manor courts
Some of the detail contained within;
Date of court sessions, sometimes recorded using Christian feast days rather than numerical dates
Type of court being held
Name of lord of the manor, or official presiding over the court
Names of jurors
Names of those sending excuses for non-attendance
Presentments, i.e. cases heard and dealt with
Details of property rights and holding
Fines and punishments issued in cases of minor disputes, debts, theft or petty assault
Allocation of agricultural land and names of individual tenants
Surrender of and admittance to copyhold land
Names of local officials and appointments to office
Quarter Sessions was the administrative body which ran the county for many centuries from 1388. It did not function like modern local government but was a court of law; the magistrates of the county met four times a year (hence “Quarter” sessions) to carry out business and administer justice on local villains at the same time.
Quarter-sessions dealt with a range of crimes which were too serious to be dealt with summarily at the petty sessions but were usually less serious crimes than those tried at the Assize Courts.
All quarter sessions were abolished in England and Wales in 1972, when the Courts Act 1971 replaced them and the assizes with a single permanent Crown Court.
More advice at Lancashire Archives
National Archives links for Halewood
Electoral Roll
Held by Local Record Offices
Newspapers
Not all newspapers are available on subscription sites.
Halewood was usually covered by the Liverpool newspapers during the nineteenth century then later by the Widnes Weekly News and Runcorn Weekly News. Widnes Library hold on microfilm copies of the Widnes Weekly News in year order, starting in the late 1880's to the present date.
Parish Archives
Church registers: Baptisms, Marriages, burials;
Free Access on Lancashire Online Parish Clerks page
Overseers of the Poor account books
Recent records held by the Parish Church
Older archives deposited at the local record office in Knowsley.
1. Registration records will usually include registers of baptism, marriage and burial, but may also include banns, confirmations and service registers. Many church registers can now be viewed on Ancestry and Find My Past, while free transcripts can be found at
Free Access on www.lan-opc.org.uk. Lancashire Online Parish Clerks page
This catalogue includes a summary of our holdings of baptism, marriage and burial registers; bishop's transcripts and the other transcripts and indexes which we hold for each church.
2. Records of clergy include appointments and personal correspondence of individual clergy members; as well as records relating to the church glebe, the land and property which historically generated income for the incumbent. Our searchroom library includes multiple editions of Crockford's Clerical Directory, containing career information for Anglican clergy. The Victoria County History, which can be viewed at www.british-history.ac.uk, often includes lists of previous incumbents at parish churches.
3. Our main collection of tithe maps and schedules can be found within Diocesan records. However in some instances we also have parish copies, as well as records relating to the administration of local tithes and altered apportionments.
4. Churchwardens are primarily responsible for the church building and associated property. Their records might include accounts as well as church plans, faculties granting permission for alterations and additions to the church, and plans of the churchyard.
5. The vestry are responsible for the appointment of parish officers, and historically oversaw the administration of the poor law and other local government, at least until the creation of civil parishes. Records generally consist of minutes of vestry meetings.
6. Parochial church councils are responsible for the financial management of the church, as well as the maintenance of the church building. They also arrange for the keeping of the electoral roll of church members. Records generally consist of minutes of meetings and accounts.
7. Overseers of the poor arranged for the collection of the poor rate, the management of the local poor house and the provision of poor relief within the parish. Records can be particularly name rich and might include papers relating to settlement and removal, bastardy orders and apprenticeship indentures. Where disputes arose the quarter sessions court may also have become involved, and many related records can be found within the Quarter Sessions Peitions (QSP), which are name indexed in our catalogue. From 1834 poor relief became the responsibility of local boards of guardians (PU).
8. A township was a smaller geograpical area within a parish. Many of our parish collections include township papers, which may relate to the collection of church rates, overseers of the poor and surveyors of highways, meaning that there may be some overlap with other sections in our catalogue.
9. Parish constables were responsible for maintaining order within the parish before the founding of the local constabulary.This might have covered everything from vagrancy to pubs, trading standards to the control of rats.
10. Each parish was required by law to appoint a surveyor of highways, who would have to survey the parish roads at least 3 times a year. Residents within the parish were responsible for the maintenance of their roads, and disuptes over their upkeep can often be found within Quarter Sessions Peitions (QSP).
11. The Church of England played a huge role in education, first with the introduction of Sunday Schools for children who were working during the week and then by offering full day schools. Records might include admission registers as well as log books, inspection reports and school plans. It may also be worth looking at separate collections of school records (SM) and school plans (SP). Many of our school admission registers which date from before 1914 can be viewed online via Find My Past.
12. Many church collections include records of local charities, which often provide for the relief or education of the poor within the parish. Records might include wills, minutes or Charity Commission papers.
13. Civil parish records relate to local government within the parish from the mid 19th century onwards. While some records, including minutes and rate books, have been deposited within parish collections there is also a separate set of civil parish records (PR).
14. Miscellaneous records might include parish magazines, photographs, records of church societies and events.
