The Church of England and Social Change in Manchester, 1635–1928

Manchester Cathedral is one of the oldest and most significant buildings in Manchester. The Cathedral records highlight the central position of the building, and therefore of Christianity, in the lives of people in Manchester, particularly throughout the Industrial Revolution. The Cathedral served as a meeting point during big milestones in people’s lives: baptism, marriage, and death. An understanding of the history of the Cathedral is therefore key to understanding the social, economic, and spiritual development of Manchester. Much of this history is contained within the Cathedral Archives, which are digitised in this collection. 

This collection contains the parish registers and capitular records of Manchester Cathedral and its predecessor, the Collegiate Church, from 1635 to 1928. The parish registers include records of baptisms, burials, marriages, summary marriages, and banns objections. The capitular records detail the management of both the chapter estates and finances. The land deeds mostly date from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. These records contain a detailed picture of changing land use in the centre of the world's first industrial city and the attempts of the church as a prominent landowner to deal with unprecedented change in demand for land. These documents have immense potential for building historians and those wishing to chart the changes in land use in Manchester.

Taken together, the records in this collection are a useful resource for historians who are interested in studying the social, economic, and spiritual impact of the Industrial Revolution. It will likewise be of interest to historians focusing on the development of the city of Manchester.