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County Durham
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- Archives & Libraries
- Bibliography◬
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- Census
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- Maps
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- Merchant Marine◬
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- Military History◬
- Military Records
- Names, Geographical◬
- Names, Personal◬
- Newspapers
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- Politics & Government◬
- Poor Houses, Poor Law◬
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"A county of England lying on the German Ocean, and bounded by Northumberland, Cumberland,Westmorland, and Yorkshire. It is about 40 miles in length and 30 in breadth, and contains 1 city, 8 market towns, and 113 parishes. It is hilly, and some points are nearly 2000 feet high. There are wide moors amongst the hills, and other tracts completely uncultivated. There are some islands on the coast, Holy Island being the largest. The coast is cliffy in some parts; other parts are shelving sands. The principal rivers are the Wear, the Tees, the Tyne, and the Derwent. Coal, iron, lead, mill-stone grit, limestone, &c., are found here abundantly. The east and south parts of the county are fruitful in corn and pasture, and have a milder air than the other parts. It sends to other parts of the United Kingdom, and to foreign countries, both its native productions, and the goods it manufactures, such as coarse woolen goods, sail-cloth, steel, glass,iron, &c.; &c.; This county was formerly under the special jurisdiction of the bishop of Durham as a Prince Palatine, but in 1836 the palatinate was vested in the crown. Population, 342,284. It returns 10 members to Parliament."
[From Barclay's Complete and Universal English Dictionary,1842]
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Durham County Record Office
County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL
Telephone: 03000 267619
Website: Durham Record Office
Research: Records Office online shop as there is now an easier process to order and pay for research online.https://recordofficeshop.durha
Durham County Record Office's search room closed to visitors in January 2022 because the collections are moving to a new home.
Roughly six miles of the archives will be transferred from Durham's County Hall to the site of the new History Centre in the 19th. century Mount Oswald Manor House on the outskirts of the City.
The History Centre is scheduled to open in 2023 and will bring together archive, heritage and registration services, alongside a cafe and exhibition space.
In the meantime the archive service will continue to respond to public inquiries by email and process online requests, in addition to delivering education programmes, online history talks and courses, and digitisation projects. Find out more at durhamrecordoffice.org.uk.
- Dean and Chapter Library
The College, Durham, DH1 3EH
Telephone: (+44) (191) 386 2489 - Durham City Reference Library is now Durham Clayport Library
Millennium Place
Durham
DH1 1WA
Telephone: (+44) (191) 386 4003 - Durham University Library - Archives and Special Collections
- Palace Green Section
Palace Green, Durham, DH1 3RN
Telephone: (+44) (191) 334 2972 - Section at 5 The College
(formerly Department of Palaeography and Diplomatic)
5 The College, Durham, DH1 3EQ
Telephone: (+44) (191) 334 1210
- Palace Green Section
- Family history resources at
- There is a page of photographs of Beamish Museum taken by Brian Pears.
- Newcastle Local Studies Library has a large collection of Monumental Inscriptions.
- Transcripts of the 1841, 1861, 1871 and 1891 Census Returns covering areas of Co Durham and Northumberland.
Brian Pears has compiled tables linking Piece Numbers with Registration Districts and Sub-districts in Co Durham and Northumberland for each of the censuses from 1851 to 1911.
- Durham Records Online offer a free search of almost a million County Durham census records; a fee is required to view the record transcriptions.
Methodist Churches in 1940 in the "Newcastle-upon-Tyne" and "Sunderland and Durham" Districts. This includes all of Northumberland and the northern part of Co Durham
- Detailed information on deposited registers and transcripts is given under individual parishes (see index)
- County Durham Burial Index 1813-1837 (5% Sample)
- Paul Joiner's Marriage Index for Durham, the North Riding of Yorkshire and elsewhere.
- Ted Wildy's UK Marriage witness index.
- Transcripts or indexes of about three hundred Northumberland and Durham parish registers are held in the Newcastle Local Studies Library.
- Family Search has published digitized images of Durham Diocese Bishop's Transcripts for 1613-1919.
- Family Search has published digitized images of Durham Diocese, Calendar of Marriage Bonds & Allegations, 1594-1815
- Durham Records Online offer a free search of many County Durham parish records; a fee is required to view the record transcriptions.
Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained from the Superintendent Registrars at local District Register Offices (where they still exist):
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If ordering from a District Office, please note the following:
- (a) the cost of a certificate is currently (June 2010) £9.00 -send a Sterling cheque payable to the Superintendent Registrar plus return postage or two International Reply Coupons;
- (b) the St. Catherine's Index references are of no value;
- (c) for marriage certificates, the precise place of marriage must be given;
- (d) Civil Registration in England and Wales began on July 1st 1837.
Registration districts for the period 1837-1930 with their accompanying places, together with the current location of the records, is listed on Brett Langston's Civil Registration Pages.
- There are online, searchable, indexes at:-
- Gateshead Register Office
- South Tyneside Register Office
- Tees Valley Register Offices in the former county of Cleveland (Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar & Cleveland, and Hartlepool)
Once you find an entry you can, of course, order a certificate.
- Extracts from (possibly) The Durham Chronicle entitled List of Former Executions relating to executions at Durham between 1732 and 1909 supplied by Alistair and Joan Mills.
- Extracts from the Newcastle Courant relating to Criminals and Crime 1782-1789 and 1830-1851 supplied by George Bell
- North of England Regional Information Service, an initiative developed by N.I.A.A., the Northern Informatics Applications Agency.
- Ship's passenger lists with Durham connections:-
- Details of discussion groups and mailing lists serving the county
- Gateshead Libraries local history project with lots of local history information and photographs from Gateshead and the villages in the Gateshead MBC area. These include bits for Gateshead, Gateshead Fell, Lamesley and Whickham
- The Durham Victoria County History's new website. Most of the historical information on it at present is about Darlington, but they will be covering the whole county eventually.
- Managed by Information North, the regional agency for library co-operation, the Tomorrow's History project will be digitising tens of thousands of images and documents from the collections of libraries, museums and archives inthe North East region, linking these to modern and historic Ordnance Survey mapping, providing links to existing indexes, catalogues and content, and stimulating one hundred new Community History initiatives for the new Millennium.
- Brian Pears has created a page "Some Remnants of Victorian Gateshead" containing photographs of historical Gateshead.
- The Keys to the Past website "provides access to a complete record of the archaeologyof the two counties [the modern counties of Northumberland and Co Durham], from the smallest prehistoric flint to the largest medieval castle." Note that the Metropolitan Districts of Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland, and the Unitary Authorities of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees are not covered.
David Harrison has provided an 1806 map of Co Durham (from J. Carey's engraving). A reduced-size version is also available. Please note that the image on these pages is of 147 kilobytes.
- Thanks to NORTHUMBRIA subscriber, Ray Rogers, we now have an 1840 Co Durham map online.
- GENUKI have provided a list of illustrations showing the coverage of the modern OS Landranger sheets.
- Reproductions of old Ordnance Survey maps for many areas of North-EastEngland are available from Alan Godfrey Maps.
- Durham Mining Museum Colliery Maps
- Roll of Honour of civilians killed by enemy action in the UK during World War II - listing of 3736 entries relating to Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire.
- Recipients of the Victoria Cross associated with the north-east of England.
- The North East War Memorials Project provides transcriptions, images and information on war memorials in the region.
- Durham at War
- Newcastle Local Studies Library has a large collection.
- There is an Index to Evening Chronicle Obituaries 1885-1900 provided by Kathleen Bolam. This is an ongoing project and should be added to in due course.
- A list of collieries in Northumberland and Durham.
Durham Mining Museum Lists of mines of various types and dates
- Pre-1858 wills which were proved at the Consistory Court of Durham are kept at Durham University - Library Archives and Special Collections.
- There is a Pre 1858 Probate Index newly on line.
There is a large, well organised and informative Durham Diocesan web site which gives full details of the present ecclesiastical set up of the Diocese, together with some historical detail.
- The Northern Police Orphanage at St George’s House, Otley Road, Harrogate looked after children of police families, mostly from North-East England. It was founded by Catherine Gurney in 1898 and closed in 1956. The first admission was Minnie Smith from Sunderland.
Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs to 1516 was compiled by Dr Samantha Letters at the Centre for Metropolitan History, and is organised by county. It includes a brief summary of the early history of many large and small places, with details of markets and fairs and the people granted the right to hold them.
- Listing of Electoral Registers and Poll Books at Newcastle Local Studies Library.