St. James' Chorley was consecrated for worship in 1878. For family history and genealogy information prior to 1878 it is therefore necessary to refer to the records for the old parish church of Chorley, St. Laurence. The original church of St. Laurence was built in 1362.
An index of parish baptisms, marriages and funerals created by the Mormon Church is freely available in many libraries and an online version (subject to the vagaries of miscopying) is available at the Family Search website.
Parish registers for St. James not currently in use are deposited at the County Record office They list the following as being held:
Original Registers (ref PR3124) Baptisms 1878-1944, Marriages 1879-1940.
Microfilm copy (ref PR 3124/1/1-6) Baptisms 1878-1944, Marriages 1879-1940.
There is no burial ground at St. James although in recent years a garden of remembrance has been opened for the interment of ashes.
Chorley is in the County of Lancashire and Diocese of Blackburn. However, Blackburn was only created from part of the Diocese of Manchester in 1926. The Diocese of Manchester was created from part of the Diocese of Chester in 1847. The Diocese of Chester was established under that name in 1541.
A useful source of information for genealogists is GEN UKI which has a section on Lancashire.
St. James entry on the GEN UKI church database.
St. Laurence entry on the GEN UKI church database.
The Lancashire Parish Registers Society apparently have some CDs covering the registers for St Laurence Chorley from 1548 to 1708.
We hope in due course to add further information on the history of St. James which may be of interest to those researching their family history.