Durham Castle and Precincts, Durham Genealogy

Guide to Durham Castle and Precincts, Durham family history and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Durham Castle and Precincts is an extra parochial place which ceased to be a parish, is still recognised as separate, the inhabitants having no parochial rights in any other church, and are without a church. It is necessary to search other city parishes for events. The castle had, at one time, two ancient chapels built within its precincts, including Norman Chapel (ca. 1078), and Tunstall Chapel (built by 1530), the Tunstall Chapel of which is still in use today for worship and concerts.

DURHAM, a city, the capital of the county of Durham, and the head of a union, 67 miles ESE from Carlisle, 87 NE from Lancaster, 67 NW by W from York. The city is surmounted by the cathedral and the remains of the ancient castle, together with other ecclesiastical residences. The college was established at the same time as the university. The city comprises several parishes: St. Giles, St. Mary Le Bow, St. Mary-the-less, St. Nicholas', St. Oswald's, St. Margaret's, as well as The (Durham) Cathedral.

There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church Records
Durham Castle and Precincts parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.


 * Records are also available at the Durham County Record Office.

Non Conformist Churches

 * Society of Friends (Quaker)
 * Independents
 * Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists
 * Roman Catholics

Poor Law Unions

 * Durham Poor Law Union, Durham

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Durham Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Durham City on GENUKI