Denton, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
Denton St Mary former ancient chapelry was created in 1837 from chapelry within Gainford Ancient Parish and includes Hougton le Side..

"Denton, it is believed, has had no less than four chapels at various periods, each one having to be replaced on account of the ruinous state it was allowed to fall into. The first chapel is supposed to have been of Norman Foundation, which gave place to an Early English edifice, this being entirely rebuilt in 1810, and of no particular style. During the rebuilding, an ancient stone coffin was discovered, supposed to be that of a Knight Templar, and later a cover of Frosterley marble of the same shape, and about the same size, with a sculptured figure of a female carved upon it, was also found. The following inscription in Lombardian French runs round the cover, Hic gist Aubrey de Coynners sa compayn - Here lies the wife of Aubrey de Conyers. The present chapel is a neat stone building in the Early English style, consisting of nave and chancel, with a south porsh at the west end. The chancel fittings and pulpit are of oak and of good design. The chapel is built almost on the site of its predecessor, and will seat 100, having been built at a cost of £1400."

[From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan, London, 1894]

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

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/75 Date: 1765-1882 Related material at DULASC: Denton transcript 1843 is included with Gainford transcripts DDR/EA/PBT/2/110 Related materials (elsewhere): Transcripts for 1756-1757 are among the Howe manuscriptsDurham Bishop's Transcripts: The Howe Manuscript Collection at Durham Cathedral Library. Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at Record Search. Engineering work is pending to load the Denton transcripts fully and differentitate them from the Gainford transcripts. At present the available images are found under Gainford on Record Search.

The dates of the post-1760 transcripts have been noted in detail and sometimes only cover years. For most parishes in the collection there are gaps in the sequence of transcripts. It is advisable to consult the original parish registers for these years and events.

The Parish Registers for the period 1576-1993 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/De).

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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

Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.