Manchester, Levenshulme, St. Mary's RC Church, Baptisms 1853-1920 (Download)

The information which is contained in this download is taken from the original registers, the originals of which are held by Lancashire Archives at Preston.

This download, which is in PDF format, contains a scanned copy of the original baptism registers complete with a transcript of the 1,442 baptisms performed and an index to the 6,564 names of children, parents and godparents which appear in the register.

About the Church

St. Mary of the Angels and St. Clare RC Church, Levenshulme: 1853-1920

The church was founded in 1853 and was originally attached to the Convent of the Poor Clares, Clare Road. A new church opened in 1883. In 1957 it moved to a former cinema on Stockport Road and in 1975 moved into a new building in Elbow Street.

The parish at first, in 1853, comprised: Levenshulme, Reddish, Heaton Norris, Withington, Barlow Moor and Fallowfield. It was opened through the interest of Samuel Grimshaw, Esq., a native of Levenshulme, who lived at Errwood Hall, near Buxton. In 1853 he gave the land for the parish-about two acres..

The first Rector was the Rev. Thomas Unsworth who became a Chaplain in the Crimean War, volunteering with Fr. Patrick Meaney, the latter dying in the Crimea. A subsequent Rector was Fr. Henry Fox who built St. Edward's, Rusholme, and left here for that parish. In 1867 the Right Rev. Mgr. Robert Croskell who had built St. Chad's, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, was appointed Rector. In 1877 he built the present presbytery and in 1882 the present church. He died at Levenshulme in 1902 at the great age of 94 years. In 1914 Father Sassen enlarged the church. In 1915, through the efforts of Fr. Sassen, St. Robert's, Longsight, was cut off from St. Mary's and made into a separate parish. Fr. Joseph Lomax was parish priest for many years and in 1940 Monsignor Masterson became parish priest after him.

The above description is based on information published in "Salford Diocese and its Catholic past", a survey by Charles A. Bolton, a Priest of the above Diocese. Published 1950 on the First Centenary for the Diocese of Salford.

About this Transcript

The information which is contained in this download has been transcribed from the original registers, scans of which are included. Information has been indexed as written. The originals are held by the Lancashire Record Office at Preston.