Places: Hundreds And Parishes

Traditionally English counties were divided up into areas known as Hundreds (or Wapentakes). These Hundreds were further divided into Church Of England Parishes with each Parish having a Parish Church which could perform all ecclesiastical services and ceremonies. The original Parishes were large areas so within a Parish there were Chapels Of Ease to allow people in the further reaches of a Parish to attend services closer to home. The Parish Church licensed certain Chapels Of Ease to perform ceremonies such as Baptisms, Marriages and Burials. If the local Chapel Of Ease only held certain ceremonies then people would have to go to the Parish Church for the other ceremonies.

As populations increased some Chapels Of Ease became Parish Churches with their own Parish, and the original Parishes shrank.

The use of Hundreds declined and they were effectively abandoned by the end of the 19th Century.

See Wikipedia Hundred County Division, Hundreds Of England and Hundreds Of Lancashire, also Wikishire Hundreds Of Lancashire and Family Search Lancashire Parishes.

These are the Hundreds Of Lancashire (image from Wikishire)

• Lonsdale: the very north of Lancashire, none of the ancestors were from Lonsdale
• Amounderness: the area from Fylde and inland, none of the ancestors were from Amounderness
• Blackburn: the area around Blackburn, none of the ancestors were from Blackburn
• Leyland: the area around Preston and south, this included some ancient parishes used by ancestors, namely
  • Chorley
  • Standish Parish Church St Wilfred
• West Derby: the area around Livepool and inland to Wigan, this hundred was lived in by the majority of ancestors, including following ancient parishes
  • Ormskirk Parish Church St Peter And St Paul
  • Prescot Parish Church St Mary The Virgin with Chapels Of Ease including
    • St Helen St Helens (formerly St Mary) becoming a Parish Church in 1852
  • Wigan (excluding Aspull) Parish Church All Saints with Chapels Of Ease including
    • St Thomas The Martyr Upholland from 1536
    • St Catharine Scholes from 1841 (when it was built) until it became a Parish Church in 1864
    • St George Central Wigan
    • St Thomas Wallgate
  • Winwick Parish Church St Oswald Winwick with Chapels Of Ease including
    • St Thomas Ashton In Makerfield from 1746 (when it was built) until it became a Parish Church in 1845
    • Holy Trinity Garswood built new as a Parish Church in 1836
    • St James The Great Haydock consecrated 1866 as a Parish Church
• Salford: the area around Manchester, a few ancestors were in this hundred, including following ancient parishes
  • Bolton Le Moors, or just Bolton (including Blackrod), Parish Church St Peter Bolton with Chapels Of Ease including
    • St Katharine Blackrod made a Parish Church in 1740
  • Wigan (only Aspull)