England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Farnworth with Kearsley St John the Evangelist

The Parish

The parish of Farnworth, including the township of Kearsley, lies in southeastern Lancashire, it was a late creation being split from the wider parish of Deane in 1828 to serve the growing population. Farnworth lies roughly 3 miles south of the town of Bolton and Kearsley a further mile to the southeast of Farnworth. The area is a maze of major roads with the main A666 road connecting Bolton to Manchester splitting through between Farnworth & Kearsley. This is an area which saw major changes during the 18th and 19th centuries, in medieval times a backward rural area, the industrial revolution powered by the coal that underlies the parish and the water power of fast flowing streams descending from the Pennines made for rapid industrialisation of the area. Mining was important as were the ubiquitous cotton mills of the area, Farnworth was also an important centre for paper production with major paper-mills employing many hundreds. The population growth of Deane parish was such that Farnworth was created from its southeastern areas, it should be noted that prior to 1830 and the start of this register all marriages would have been recorded in Deane's registers. Today modern developments and urban growth see Farnworth an integral part of the Greater Manchester conurbation, urban areas are contiguous from the northern reaches of Bolton southeastwards almost to the Pennines in Cheshire. The railway line from Manchester to Bolton cuts through the parish whilst the modern M62 & M61 motorways skirt the area. Farnworth is drained by the River Irwell which joins the Mersey to reach the Irish Sea through the latter's estuary. Farnworth is sited at around 100 metres above the sea with Kearsley some 40 metres lower, land rises steadily westwards reaching 165 metres on the southwestern fringes of Bolton. To create Farnworth parish roughly 1,500 acres was cut from the vast domain of Deane, within that acreage a population grew to well over 8,000 inhabitants. In Domesday times this was a remote and sparsely populated area with no mention of Farnworth in that book.

The Church

St John the Evangelist's church sits immediately south of the railway station and close to the route of the A666 through Farnworth. The church was a Georgian construction built between 1824 & 1826 and financed by the Church Commissioners. Pevsner is fairly scathing of such churches describing this one as "a typical ashlar box" and it was clearly of little architectural interest to him. Despite its recent construction alterations were made in both 1873 and in 1912 when the tall pinnacles that had graced the tower were removed amid safety concerns. The church is approached along Church Street which heads off Market Street eastwards at a prominent bank. Church Street whilst narrow does allow parking closer to the churchyard gates, as you approach the dominating western tower faces you. Metal gates pierce the blocky sandstone walls of the churchyard giving entry to a churchyard which is expansive and with no obstacles to photography.