England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Prestwich St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Prestwich lies in southeastern Lancashire and covers an extensive area to the north of Manchester. Besides the town of Prestwich itself the parish also contained the chapelries of Oldham and, later, that of Hollingwood within an eastern detached extension of the basic parish. Prestwich, itself, lies roughly 4 miles north of Manchester and sits on the A56 road which connects Manchester with Bury. As mentioned the parish covers a broad extent being 15miles from east to west and 4 from north to south. Like most Lancashire parishes in this area its population grew immensely from the industrialisation of the 19th century and Prestwich grew from a small market town to a large industrial town during that period. Manufacturing of cloth was the principal driver with the swift running streams and then coal power driving the expansion of cotton mills into the area. Prior to that growth the parish was alargely rural and pastoral landscape, some market gardening on the lower ground to provide produce for the growing city of Manchester just to the south. Prestwich's separation also lead to it becoming a favoured retreat for wealthier Manchester businessmen with a large number of their mansion's decorating the parish. Today Prestwich is totally embraced within the broader metropolitan area that industrial Lancashire has become with few green breaks from Eccles to Stalybridge and Bury to Altincham, a vast sea of housing and industry, the power house of the county. A plethroa of modern developments came to the town, canal, railway and road links too many to specifically mention beyond the presence of the modern M60 motorway, Manchester's ring, which cuts through to the north of Prestwich.Prrestwich is drained by the River Irwell leading to the Mersey and thus the Irish Sea through the port of Liverpool. Prestwich town is sited at around 80 metres above the sea but the wider parish rises to the western Pennine range reaching well over 300 metres on its eastern flanks. The huge parish covered a little over 21,600 acres and the population would have risen steadily during the period of this transcription reaching over 78,000 by its closure albeit most of those would have been resident in Oldham which carries its own page. Despite its later importance Prestwich is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book which has sparse coverage within this area.

The Church

St Mary's church can be found just west of the busy A56 accessed along the dead-end street of Church Lane which runs the short distance from Bury New Road to the church gates. St Mary is an immense church as befits the size of its congregation but not much remains of its early origins. The church is something of a puzzle for Pevsner, whilst the 19th century elements grouped around the eastern end are clear the remaining medieval is difficult to relate to a time series. Of the Decorated period, and probably the earliest style represented, comes parts of the arcades and aisles but significantly more remains of the later Perpendicular style. The lofty western tower and clerestory are clearly of this period. Later still and late Tudor is the northern chapel. From the 19th century can be found the two southern chapels, of 1872 & 1874 respectively whilst the splendid eastern end dates from the major rework period of 1888 -1889. The whole is an impressive sight from every angle. Church Street permits parking making for a comfortable visit, the iron gates granting entry lying just beyond the Church Inn. The churchyard,itself, is extensive permitting the photographer to get sufficiently far to acquire adequate landscape and portrait angles.

The register suffers badly from fading making for a challenging read at times. Thankfully the BTs are in a good state and were used to mitigate this fault, misreads may still, however, be prevalent

The register suffers badly from fading making for a challenging read at times. Thankfully the BTs are in a good state and were used to mitigate this fault, misreads may still, however, be prevalent