Built in 1737 as a chapel to Stockport: St. Mary the Virgin.
In 1843 it became the district church for the township of Norbury. The
boundaries of "The Chapelry District of Saint Thomas, Norbury" were described in
the London Gazette on 10 January 1843:
"The chapelry district of Saint Thomas, Norbury, is to consist of the
township of Norbury, being bounded on or towards the west by the township of
Brammall [sic]; on the north by the township of Torkington; on the east by the
township of Marple, all in the parish of Stockport; on the south by the township
of Poynton, in the parish of Prestbury"
The district was affected by the following boundary changes:
1860 October 30 — reduced when part of the township of Norbury was
transferred to High Lane: St. Thomas.
1878 August 23 — extended to include the following areas transferred from Stockport: St. Mary the Virgin, Cheadle: St. Mary,
and Stockport: St. Thomas: "All that portion of the said parish of Stockport wherein the present
incumbent of such parish now possesses the exclusive cure of souls which is
comprised within and is co-extensive with the limits of that part of the
township of Torkington which is not included within the new parish of Saint
Thomas High-lane in the county and diocese aforesaid. And also all that
contiguous portion of the parish of Cheadle in the same county and diocese
which is detached from the main body of the same parish and which is comprised
within and is co-extensive with the limits of that detached part of the
township of Handforth cum Bosden which is called or known as the hamlet of
Bosden. And also all that contiguous portion of the parish of Saint Thomas
Stockport sometime part of the parish of Stockport aforesaid which is bounded
on the south-east by the new parish of Saint Thomas Norbury aforesaid and on
the northeast partly by the above-described detached portion of the said
parish of Cheadle and partly by the parish of Stockport aforesaid and on the
remaining sides that is to say on the northwest and on the south-west by an
imaginary line commencing at the north-western end of the village of
Hazlegrove upon the boundary which divides the said parish of Stockport from
the parish of Saint Thomas Stockport aforesaid at the point where the
Manchester and Buxton-road is joined by Bramhall-lane and extending thence
generally south-westward along the middle of the said lane for a distance of
one mile and a quarter or thereabouts to its junction at the houses called or
known as Newbarn with Jackson's-lane and with Mill-lane and extending thence
westward along the middle of the last-named lane for a distance of thirty-one
chains and a half or thereabouts to the centre of Mill Bridge which carries
the same lane over the stream called or known as Lady Brook and extending
thence first southward and then south-eastward along the middle of the said
stream for a distance of sixty-one chains or thereabouts to the boundary which
divides the said parish of Saint Thomas Stockport from the new parish of Saint
Thomas Norbury aforesaid."
Church Records
C = Christenings (Baptisms) ; M = Marriages ; B = Burials ; BTs = Bishop's Transcripts
Original Registers
C 1829–1983 ; M 1837–1984 ; B 1834–1898 — Cheshire Record Office (P 142)
C from 1983 ; M from 1984 ; B from 1898 — Church
