I suppose strictly speaking Bolton has two parish churches with Deane being the other one. I wonder whether there might be some towns where the parish church is not in the town centre but one large church in the centre of the town has become the location for any major occasions even though it is not the parish church or a cathedral? http://www.tongefamily.info/images/bolton_parishes.gif http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish_church Martin Briscoe Fort William M&LFHS | Gwynedd FHS -----Original Message----- From: Bob Thornley [mailto:bob@thornleysystems.co.uk] Sent: 25 June 2006 07:08 To: ENG-LAN-BOLTON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ENG-LAN-BOLTON] PARISH CHURCH OF TONGE MOOR Hi Valerie, You raised a topic here that I've wondered about for some time, so this feels like a good time to try to tap the knowledge of listers for a bit of enlightenment. In Bolton we all seem to call St Peter's on Church "The Parish Church". Suggesting that in Bolton we have just one parish church and it's that one. But what is a 'parish church'? The Bolton usage suggest that a parish church is to a town as a cathedral would be to a city. Or is that just the case with a very big town like Bolton. In which case what about Blackburn - a smaller town than Bolton, but complete with a cathedral? Does it also have a parish church or are the two conflated? To the dictionary (Chambers) ... parish church - the church of the establishment for a parish. Ok then ... parish - (noun) a district having its own church and its own minister or priest. Now that seems a bit circular definition to me so it doesn't necessarily help. But it does imply that if Tonge Moor is a parish (I'm not sure if it is) it should have a parish church. And of course it doesn't address the issue of the Bolton parish church, because my understanding is that Bolton consists of a number of parishes rather than consisting in being one of them. Maybe I got out of bed too early this morning? Can anyone enlighten me? In hope Reds, Bob Thornley, Bolton