Ainsworth Cockey Moor Middleton and Radcliffe PR Confusion

[foundblue]

I am researching my Kirkman line around 1600 to 1800 in these areas but have become very confused.  Could someone advise me where I may find on line records for this period or which archives I should visit.   Prior to 1727 most records seem to disappear as though they are no longer exist.  Many years are missing.

Some families seem to move from church to church.  Bishops Transcripts covering Middleton appear to cover the other parishes some miles away.   Anglican and nonconformists worship at the same churches and Ainsworth and Cockey Moor appear to be the same place.  The more I look at Phillimore's and genuki the more I get puzzled!  Using maps from the NLS seemed to be straight forward at first but doesn't seem to reflect these parishes.

So where should I look to research this area in this time period?

Thanks
Nick

[garstonite]

Hiya Nick - earliest record on
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html
is
Burial: 17 Jan 1547/8 St Leonard, Middleton, Lancashire, England
Isabel Kirkman - vxor of Rogeri Kirkman
......................................................
1st marriage
Marriage: 27 May 1548 St Leonard, Middleton, Lancashire, England
Roger Kirkman -
Anna Plum[m]er -
...............................................................................................
little note - Ainsworth is spelt Aynsworth in the early 1600's
Baptism: 1 Jun 1640 St Peter, Bolton, Lancashire, England
Richard Kirkman - Son of Robert Kirkman
    Abode: Aynsworth
anyway - go to Lanc-opc site and trawl through the Kirkman surname list - GOOD LUCK

[heywood]

There may be no other online resources.
I am sure you will have looked here https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Ainsworth

There is a link there to Bury library resources, you could try emailing the local history department there.

Family Search shows the availability of records here
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ainsworth,_Lancashire_Genealogy

Cockney Moor is part of Ainsworth
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol5/pp180-182

There are other references to the places online.

[foundblue]

Thanks heywood and garstonite - there are a couple of places there that I hadn't tried.  Thanks for the hints.
nick

[lancsann]

"Some families seem to move from church to church.  Bishops Transcripts covering Middleton appear to cover the other parishes some miles away.   Anglican and nonconformists worship at the same churches and Ainsworth and Cockey Moor appear to be the same place.  The more I look at Phillimore's and genuki the more I get puzzled!  Using maps from the NLS seemed to be straight forward at first but doesn't seem to reflect these parishes."

In some of the times you are looking at marriages were only legal is solemnised in a CofE church so people who would have children baptised & be buried in non-conformist church wopuld be married in the nearest CofE. Also if a birth, marriage or death took place in a 'daughter' or Chapel of Ease church it would also be recorded in the Bishops Transcipts of the mother church.

I am sure someone will correct me if I have got any of those fact wrong!

[foundblue]

Ann - I am sure you are correct certainly about only marrying at CoE because of the Hardwick Act which applied in part of the time frame I am looking at.  I think the problem I have is taken things at face value.  Form example Ancestry have Middleton, St Leonard 1664 - 1759 records which is true in that they start 1664 and end 1759 but there are large numbers of years missing where the registers no longer exist or are too damaged hence my searches didnt work.  I haven't yet worked out why I can't find the equivalent records in the Bishops Transcripts though, unless of course my theories are incorrect and the entries just don't exist.  Also many of the dissenters records have a single name Fred baptised March,  Joe buried April but no "son of" phrase or parents names which I haven't come across before and is so frustrating.  Just realised that Middleton is a split parish so has chapels of ease miles from the parent church.

Nick

[lancsann]

Have you tried lan-opc which is a very good free site and on the index appears to have all the baptisms, marriages and burial for the times you want

[foundblue]

Ann yes I did it was one of the first places I looked as it is a very good site as you say.  However I couldn't find anything for Cockey Moor, Ainsworth only starts at 1785 and has years missing, similarly Middleton seems to have the same gaps as Ancestry.  Radcliffe is the most unlikely one for the records I was hoping to find but it does have good ranges of years.    I have to concede the records I am after dont exist anymore or will have to wait until the archives open again.

[Maiden Stone]

little note - Ainsworth is spelt Aynsworth in the early 1600's
Baptism: 1 Jun 1640 St Peter, Bolton, Lancashire, England
Richard Kirkman - Son of Robert Kirkman
    Abode: Aynsworth
anyway - go to Lanc-opc site and trawl through the Kirkman surname list - GOOD LUCK

"Ancestor Search" page on LANOPC has option for a distance search from a church. Bolton, Bury and other places which had C. of E. churches and may have had N.C. chapels or meeting-houses are only a few miles from Ainsworth.
There are lists of licence applications for N.C. meeting-houses in Lancashire Archives.