finding pre 1800 parish records

[lynne99]

I am trying to find some ancestors who were from Liverpool area and might have been catholic. I have ancestry and have not found all the relevant records. Is there anywhere else I can look for this type of record. Thanks.

[Blue70]

Hi Lynne

Are you meaning the countryside outside the town of Liverpool at that time? St Mary's and St Peter's were the two main RC churches for the town in the 18th century. Some "countryside" RC church records are included with the Liverpool records ie St Swithin's covered what is now north Liverpool and St Benet's/St Mary's Woolton covered what is now south Liverpool. Or do you mean West Lancs, St Helens etc?

I was interested in Our Lady Lydiate myself a while back. I contacted the church who still have the records, received an acknowledgement but they never responded to my request. There seems to be two approaches. Contact the RC church for the area concerned. Or try to get copies of the records from a Record Office. Check the Liverpool and Lancashire Archive catalogues to see where records are kept. Genuki is also a useful guide to locating these records.


Blue

[lynne99]

Thanks Blue, will give that a go.

[MaryA]

If you aren't successful at the Record Office, always give the church a try, there have been a number of occasions recently where a member of the church has admitted to knowing that records are kept "in a special cabinet" in the church - my opinion and probably that of the church leaders is that all records should be deposited at the RO, but they aren't.

[lynne99]

Thanks Mary