Papers relating to the Rectory of Bowdon

The subfonds EGR10 contains papers relating to the rectory of Bowdon and to Bowdon parish church which could not be attributed to any single member of the Booth and Grey families, and did not naturally belong to any other subfonds. There are one hundred returns and nominations of wardens for the years 1745-96 and 1840-1919 (EGR10/1). There are also two bundles of grants and assignments of pews in Bowdon parish church, 1714-1818 (EGR10/2), and two surveys of pews in the church, c.1750s (EGR10/3).

Within subfonds EGR1 there is a bundle of deeds relating to the lease of the rectory of Bowdon, 1548-1671 (EGR1/1/6), while there are numerous references to Bowdon parish church among the papers of the Booth family and the personal papers of the Grey family.

The rectory or parsonage of Bowdon parish church was held by the Priory of Birkenhead until the latter's dissolution, whereupon it was granted to the Bishop of Chester. Sir George Booth (1566-1652) was assigned a lease of the parsonage from the Bishop in 1589, and the parsonage continued to be held on lease for lives by the Booths and later the Earls of Stamford into the nineteenth century.

Four churchwardens were appointed for Bowdon parish church on Easter Sunday each year: one for Dunham Massey, Bollington, Agden, Partington, Carrington and half of Ashton upon Mersey; one for Altrincham, Timperley and Baguley; one for Hale; and one for Bowdon and Ashley. The name of each churchwarden was returned by his predecessor to the lord of Dunham Massey, who then nominated and appointed the new warden.

The subfonds contains three series:

• EGR10/1: Nominations of churchwardens, 1745-1796 and 1840-1919
• EGR10/2: Grants and assignments of pews in Bowdon parish church, 1714-1818
• EGR10/3: Pew surveys, 1750s

The items in EGR10 were transferred on deposit by the National Trust to the John Rylands University Library in three accessions, on 12 September 1978, 24 January 1992 and 23 November 1994. The records in the 1978 accession came from Dunham Massey Hall, while the material deposited in 1992 and 1994 derived from the Stamford Estate Office in Altrincham. The records in the last accession had been stored in the cellars at the Estate Office where in December 1993 they were subject to flooding. They were subsequently removed to Dunham Massey Hall for cleaning.

Cheshire Record Office: Mf 43, Bowdon parish church registers, 1628-1844.

John Rylands University Library: English MS 107, transcripts of Bowdon parish church memorial inscriptions.