Local & Family History
Wigan Heritage Service offers extensive local and family history collections including books, pamphlets, local newspapers, maps, census, parish registers, the International Genealogical Index (IGI), the Civil Index (births marriages and deaths) and free access to Ancestry.com. A full list of our family history collections can be found in A Guide to Genealogical Sources 3rd edition on sale for £3.95. For a brief overview see the Sources Available section below.
Our main family history research centre is at the Museum of Wigan Life, but local history collections particularly relevant to Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley are housed in the Local History section, Turnpike Centre (Leigh Library) in Leigh. Our staff will be pleased to advise you.
Many of our sources are only available on microform. It is essential that you contact the relevant centre in advance of your visit to book a microform reader. If you do not, it is possible that you will be unable to consult the documents you require.
We are able to offer a free 15-minute research service. More in-depth one-to-one Family History Workshops are also available on Wednesdays by arrangement at the Museum of Wigan Life or daily on a drop-in basis (subject to volunteer availability)
Contact: heritage@wlct.org
Sources Available
A full list of family history resources is available in A Guide to Genealogical Sources 3rd edition, price £3.95.
Before you visit, please check with staff to ascertain which venue holds the records you wish to see.
Civil Index to Births Marriages and Deaths – England and Wales 1837 – 1950. Only available at the Museum of Wigan Life.
Census Records
1841 – 1901 - all areas of Wigan Metropolitan Borough, all indexed.
Ancestry.com
Free online access to Ancestry.com at the Museum of Wigan Life (and all the borough’s libraries). Please book a computer ahead of your visit.
Parish Registers
Church of England registers for most of the former Wigan parish and the current metropolitan borough. Catholic Church registers mainly for the period prior to 1901, although there are some later dates. Limited non-conformist registers.
Available on microform only – please book a reader in advance of your visit.
Printed Registers and Transcripts
Complete set of Lancashire Parish Record Society volumes. Many Catholic Record Society and Harleian Society also contain some registers for areas other than Lancashire. We also have many that have been privately researched, including some memorial inscriptions.
Directories
Cover the current metropolitan borough area, also some for Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester. Various dates.
Early telephone directories.
Electoral Records
- Burgess Lists 1725 – 1804 (Wigan Borough only)
- Poll Books 1820, 1841, 1845, 1852, 1854, 1857, 1866, 1868 (Wigan Borough only).
- Electoral Registers 1874-1900, 1902-1906, 1908-1914, 1918-1939, 1945-1991, 1992 – present. NB: Coverage for the pre 1974 urban district councils now incorporated into the Wigan Metropolitan Borough, is very limited.
- Leigh Municipal Borough pre 1974 – 1949, 1953, 1954, 1959 – 1965, 1967 – 1972, some earlier dates are available at the Local History Desk, Turnpike Centre.
Rate Books
Abram, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Astley, Bedford, Pennington, Westleigh, Wigan. Various dates covered.
Available on microform only – please book a reader in advance of your visit.
International Genealogical Index (IGI)
1992 edition for Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Kent, Ireland and Wales.
Available on microform only – please book a reader in advance of your visit. This source is also available online at www.familysearch.org
Boyd’s Marriage Index
Lancashire 1538 – 1837.
Available on microform only – please book a reader in advance of your visit.
Newspapers
Wigan Observer 1853 – present. Indexes 1853 – 1960, 1960-1989 (CD-Rom) and 1997 – 2006.
Wigan Examiner November 1853 – June 1961.
Leigh Chronicle 1852 – 1963 (Turnpike Centre only).
Available on microform only – please book a reader in advance of your visit.
Local and biographical cuttings books with indexes.
Cemetery Records
Atherton Urban District Council 1857 – 1966.
Hindley UDC 1880 – 1973.
Ince UDC 1857 – 1958.
Leigh Municipal Borough 1856 – 1980.
Tyldesley UDC 1878 – 1953.
Wigan County Borough – Lower Ince 1856 – 1976; Gidlow 1948 – 1972.
Available on microform only – please book a reader in advance of your visit.
For online indexes see www.wiganworld.co.uk
All queries concerning plot numbers and graves should be addressed to:
Cemeteries and Crematorium Office, 1–3 Worsley Terrace, Standishgate, Wigan
Tel: 01942 828993/4.
Maps and Photographs
Ordnance Survey maps from 1847 – incomplete coverage.
Original photographic collections at Wigan Archive Service, copies can be viewed at the Museum of Wigan Life and the Local History Desk, Turnpike Centre.
Printed Books and Pamphlets
Chetham Society.
Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire.
Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society.
Copies of private research e.g. Ian Winstanley, Mining Deaths in Great Britain 1850 – 1914.
Many books and pamphlets relating to local and family history.