Genealogy Chat

Can anyone please help I am looking for the location of the records of Birchley Roman Catholic Chapel in Lancashire. It is named on two brothers marriage certs in 1843 and 1847 and I am keen to see if the two were baptised there as I am hoping to maybe find some info on their mother Margaret Callon c1791 as it looks as though they were illigitimate. thanks M

try 'googling':-

Birchley Roman Catholic Chapel

and see what comes up

Hi Rbelle,thanks for your reply,
I tried that and got:
Birchley St.Mary's catholic church
Birchley secret chapel
but could not find anything which points me in the way of records, unless I am missing something. Must admit that I am a bit of a newbie when it comes to parish records.

Hi. Birchley comes under Billinge which is on the border of St. Helens and Wigan. It may be worth googling Wigan History Shop and sending a message asking about records.

The records for Birchley are held at the Lancashire records office at Preston

Thanks Bren and Cynthia,
I will certainly try both of those, once again thanks for your help. M.

Hi

I looked at the records for Birchley in LRO but had misread your dates & looked for baptisms in 1843 & 47. Will look for marriages next time I go if you like but they are so badly written it would help to know the actual names you are looking for and their approximate dates of birth for looking at baptisms.

Hello Lancashireann,
I am so sorry to have missed your reply, we finally sold our house that week and what with moving, Christmas, holidays and setting up the new home I have only just got back to GR.
The baptisms I am looking for are:
Joseph Callon born c 1821 Father on Marriage cert James Crank!
James Callon born c1826 Father - on marriage cert Not given
both married at Birchley Catholic Chapel
Mother :Margaret Callon c 1791 for whom I have found nothing!
This query is loosley linked to a previous post: "Joseph Callon still a brick Wall" Any help you can give would be much appreciated as I seem to have come to a dead end with this direrct line of the family. thanks. M

will see what I can find next time I go to Lancs RO - not sure when

Thanks Lancashireann
I am so pleased to have your reply, not sure after all this time if you would....
Forgot to say that on the marriage cert Joseph Callon is called Joseph Calland with witness James Calland, so I suppose it is not impossible that may be the name on his baptism record.

Once again thank you so much for your help. M.

as Eringobragh1916 says, St Mary's Rc & Billinge Chapel are one & the same. The church in LRO catalogue is Birchley, Billinge, St Mary.

On lan-opc under Billinge there is a copy of a hand drawn map showing St Mary's on Birchley Road surrounded by Birchley Colliery, Birchley School & Birchley Wood

Unfortunately no marriage records exist before 1856 tho baptisms are available from 1792

Thank you both,
I would much appreciate it if when you are visiting LRO. if indeed that is possible, that you look for the baptism of Joseph and James Callon, We live in East Yorkshire so a trip to lancashire is only feasable if you know the district you are looking for, ince, ashton in makerfield, hindley etc are just names on a map, and change frequently on different documents!!. Although I have now been doing this research for about a year, I am still quite new compared to most of you so any help is much appreciated. many thanks. M.

I can't find any baptisms of a Callon at Birchley.

If Your James married Mary Marsh, I did find a baptism for a Mary Marsh b & c 13-10-1824 d of William Marsh & Joanna(?) nee Appleton

can't find Joseph's marriage in 1843 on freebmd

Hi Lancashireann
I found the marriage of James to Mary Marsh and from that marriage cert saw that his father was not named.
As to Joseph, he is named as Joseph Calland on his marriage to Margaret Bradbury and that is where on the marriage cert his father is named as James Crank, shoemaker.,
I find it really strange that there is no record of baptism but both were married in the RC chapel. My father-in-law always said they originated from Ireland, is it possible that margaret Callon came over from Ireland with the two boys even tho it says on the census that she was born in Ince
also she was 30 when she had Joseph and 35 when she had James, which seems unusual for that time.... Oh dear its such a puzzle. Many thanks for taking the time to help , I really appreciate it. M.

not too strange really - they could have been baptised in a nearby church - Bryn & Orrell RC chapels are both within a couple of miles. I would guess that as with today the bride's church was usually the one used and if Mary was the one whose baptism I did find.........

the records for Bryn are available up to 1822 (baptisms only) Orrell is available for all the years you need.

Can try those next time if you like (probably in a couple of weeks) and look for baptism of Margaret Bradbury at Birchley.

You also mention Ince. Would that be Ince Blundell or Ince in Makerfield - not too familiar with that area

There were several Crank children (no James / Joseph) in the register so it was a name popular in the area.

Wellybobs...

Your father-in-law may be right...There is an Inch in the Co Kerry..It may be that the place name got mistranscribed..also the age she had her children was not unusual...
I will have a look around the Co Kerry and see if anything pops up...

have you found Margaret in 1841? that census may help to determine whether she was 'born in county' or Ireland (I)

Hi thank you for that Lancashireann, It wold be great if you could look those up for me when it suits you really in respect of time frame. Going on holiday 8th June for 2 weeks and then will be back to pick up again.
The Ince on the census I believe to be in Makerfield.
I did not know about the "inch" in Co Kerry so thank you Eringobrach1916 I am really grateful for your help. Many thanks M

Hi, Ince is a district in Wigan and is about 5 miles from Birchley - if that helps :))

What about the Wigan History shop site - they have some archives and may be worth a call.

http://www.wlct.org/culture/heritage/historyshop.htm

Cx

we can eliminate the RC church in Ince in Makerfield as it was not founded until 1877