Manchester City Council

Please note that the closure of Manchester Archives and Local Studies will start to happen from 25 February as a result of Central Library's temporary closure for renovation and refurbishment in Spring 2010.

Information about Archives and Local Studies services while Central Library is closed.

More information about Central Library's temporary closure.

This is a list of the registers of over 1500 churches and chapels available for viewing in Manchester Archives and Local Studies. As well as churches in the City of Manchester, many registers are available for the surrounding counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and the more recent Greater Manchester and Merseyside, plus some bordering Derbyshire and Yorkshire areas.

Registers not listed here may still be at the church, or at another record office. A list of recent church deposits is available.

The Genuki Church Map is a useful tool for finding the location of Manchester churches.

The library also holds published registers from many other counties in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, which are not listed here, but can be found in the Science and Humanities Library.

Churches are listed alphabetically by place, and then by church name. Please use the links at the bottom of this page to search the alphabetical place list. Churches are Church of England unless otherwise recorded as part of the name; note that 'Wesley' or 'Wesleyan' refers to a Wesleyan Methodist church. Variations in place and/or church name are cross-referenced; where Methodist churches have changed names, the main entry is under the later name.

Many entries relate to baptism, marriage and burial registers. Some other registers, for banns, confirmations, funerals and graves are also listed, but not every record of these types is included. Some twentieth century burial register entries may really refer to funeral registers - especially if there are no earlier burial registers - but are described as burials if that is what the register says. The dates given are general covering dates; the index has sought to identify major gaps, certainly of 10 years or more, but it should not be assumed that all years can be found.

The list distinguishes between original registers and transcribed registers, whether published or unpublished. Microfilm copies of original registers - identified by the reference prefix MFPR or MF - are kept in the Microfilm Unit, while original registers not microfilmed - indicated by the prefix 'Archives' - must be consulted in the Archives section. This list quotes the Archive collection number - but you will need to consult the detailed lists in Archives to identify the precise reference or, in the case of Methodist registers, a box number. Note that many transcribed registers may contain an index, though this is not indicated as such.