England
& Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index |
The ParishThe chapelry of Great Harwood, its mother parish being Blackburn, lies towards the northern portion of Lancashire south of the water, the mainland portion of the county. Great Harwood is located a little over 4 miles northeast of Blackburn and sits just west of the A680 road which links the former mill-town of Accrington with the busy, trans-Pennine, road the A59 from Preston to Skipton. Early maps show Great Harwood, in its initial growth phase, as a largely triangular town almost totally enclosed within the route of today's B6535 and the route of the railway. The growth westwards has been largely contained by steep ground but eastwards Great Harwood now reaches as far east as the A680 with only the River Calder separating it from neighbouring Clayton le Moors. All this growth has been fuelled by the mills of the Industrial Revolution, initially powered by the Calder then later by the abundant coal measures of the district. Prior to this industry Great Harwood chapelry was largely a pastoral landscape with cattle dominant on lower ground whilst sheep occupied the heights. Modern developments have come and largely left Great Harwood, the above mentioned railway line which once formed the southern boundary to the town linked Blackburn with Padiham & Burnley but was duplicated by other lines and deemed surplus to requirements, after closure it has become a cycling route. Canals, the Leeds-Liverpool, preceded the railway, running in a contour around the subsidiary settlement of Rishton but nowadays they too are largely used for leisure. Great Harwood is drained westwards by the Lancashire River Calder joining the Darwen and then the Ribble to pass through Preston to the Irish Sea. Great Harwood occupies a valley-side site rising from 120 to almost 180 metres from south to north, land rises, as a ridge, westwards topping out at 237 metres at the local high point. Some 4,600 acres of Blackburn's enormous parish were assigned to Great Harwood chapelry within which would have been supported a population growing to almost 2,300 parishioners. Great Harwood is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has light coverage in this area. |
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Register No | Covering Dates | Deposited With | Register Style | Quality Standard | Comments |
1 |
9th October 1754 - 12th July 1787 |
Lancashire Record Office - Preston - Reference - PR487 |
Standard preprinted and self-numbered combined Banns &
Marriage register with 4 entries per page |
Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low
likelihood of misreads |
None |
2 | 4th October 1787 - 8th June 1807 | Lancashire Record Office - Preston - Reference - PR488 | Standard preprinted and self-numbered Marriage register with 3 entries per page | Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of
misreads |
None |
3 | 21st June 1807 - 28th December 1812 | Lancashire Record Office - Preston - Reference - PR489 | Standard preprinted and self-numbered Marriage register with 4 entries per page | Grade 3 Register - there are sufficient quality issues with this register to indicate that some misreads will occur albeit few in number | Fading when combined with poor handwriting makes for a tricky read at times and may lead to some misreads |
4 | 1st February 1813 - 3rd July 1836 | Lancashire Record Office - Preston - Reference - PR490 | Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register | Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of
misreads |
None |
5 | 11th July 1836 - 1st May 1837 | Lancashire Record Office - Preston - Reference - PR3023/1/6 | Standard preprinted and self-numbered Marriage register with 4 entries per page | Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of misreads | None |
Langho
St Leonard
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Whalley
St Mary
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Whalley
St Mary
Clitheroe St Mary Magdalene |
Whalley
St Mary
Altham St James Padiham St Leonard |
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Whalley
St Mary
Church Kirk St James |
Whalley
St Mary
Church Kirk St James |
1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830
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