Church Wardens Accounts: Frodsham, Cheshire

Extracts from 17th- and 18th-century accounts of the churchwardens of Frodsham parish, Cheshire. The volume comprises:

• folios 1-143, Extracts from ye Wardens' Account Books of ye Parish of Frodsham, 1608-1717 passim, made by Thomas Helsby in the 1860s and 1870s from Parish Books vols 1-6, a brief description of each of which is given;
• folios 143-143v, notes of receipts and disbursements for 1725-1808, taken in part from vol. 7;
• folios 149-153v (1635-1713), 157-158 (1635-1646) and 159-164v (1640-1716), further extracts, relating mostly to the appointment of wardens, church repairs and the school;
• folios 178-179v, copy of a seat roll of Frodsham church, 10 Hen. VII [1494];
• folios 182v-192v, copies of similar rolls, 18th century;
• folios 144-148v, 154-156v, 158v, 165-177v and 180-182 are blank.

Thomas Helsby (1832-1903) was an antiquarian and local historian of Cheshire who practised as a barrister in Manchester. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1855 and was called to the bar in 1858. His legal work was often eclipsed by his historical interests, especially during the years 1874 to 1882 when he edited the second edition of George Ormerod's History of the county palatine and city of Chester (originally published in 1819). Apart from local history he was also a keen genealogist and student of heraldry and researched extensively his own family history. He died in 1903 in Bath, Somerset.

The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

Donated to the John Rylands Library by Raymond Richards esq., MA, FSA, in April 1950.

Description compiled by Jo Humpleby, project archivist.

Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1937-1951 (English MS 1150).

Formerly owned by Thomas Helsby: inscribed on the front fly-leaf: T. Helsby, Lincoln's Inn, 1870; book-plate of Raymond Richards (1906-1978) [antiquary].

The Library also holds three volumes of letters and notes to Thomas Helsby relating to Cheshire and his revision of George Ormerod's History of the county palatine and city of Chester (ref.: GB 133 Eng MSS 422-424).

Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies holds registers and records for St Lawrence parish, Frodsham for 1495-1986 (ref.: GB 017 P8).