I make use of some old maps of Lancashire in my researches. The one I use most is HENNET'S 1829 map of Lancashire, which shows the Parish boundaries. It is available on line at http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/oldmap/index.asp. The tiles are quite large and you really need broad band, but I used it with dial-up OK. The parishes are all odd shapes. For instance Deane parish is large but elongated and stretches from Horwich in the north west, to Kearsley in the south east. Some parishes are fragmented, like Lancashire which has a large area around Lancaster as you would expect with some smaller areas separated. For example,the one around Stalmine and one just north of Preston. Middleton has a small section just south of Bolton.

As a matter of interest, our ancestors had to be married in the local parish church where they lived for the marriage to be recognised as legal.However, you could be Christened and Buried anywhere. So if you lived down in Kearsley you could probably nip across to Radcliffe for a christening, instead of travelling all the way to Deane.