Bishopwearmouth St Michael, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
Bishopwearmouth is an ancient parish and the church is dedicated to St Michael. Situated in the High Street it was rebuilt in 1807, but a church had stood on the site for centuries.

WEARMOUTH, BISHOP (St. Michael), a parish, partly in the union of Houghton-le-Spring, but chiefly in that of Sunderland, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham, 11 miles (S. E.) from Newcastle; containing, with the chapelries of Ford and Ryhope, and the townships of Bishop-Wearmouth Pans, Burdon, Silksworth, and Tunstall, 27,092 inhabitants, of whom 24,206 are in Bishop-Wearmouth township. This place is on the south side of the river Wear, adjoining the town of Sunderland. It appears to have derived the affix to its name, by which it is distinguished from Monk-Wearmouth on the opposite side of the river, from its having belonged to the bishops of Durham, under whom the rector of the parish still holds the lordship of the manor. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £89. 18. 1½., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Durham, with a net income of £2899. The tithes of the township of Bishop-Wearmouth have been commuted for £432, and the glebe consists of 159 acres. The church, altered in 1807, mostly on the walls and foundation of the ancient structure, which had existed from the commencement of the 9th century, is a handsome edifice of freestone, with a square embattled tower, and contains 1100 sittings. From: 'Weald - Weaverthorpe', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 490-494. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51383 Date accessed: 24 March 2011.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Bishop Wearmouth like this:

WEARMOUTH (Bishop), a township and two sub-districts in Sunderland district, and a parish partly also in Easington and Houghton-le-Spring districts, Durham. The township lies on the coast, at the mouth of the river Wear; includes a large portion of Sunderland town; and is all within Sunderland borough. Acres, 2,665; of which 188 are water. Real property, £152,499; of which £530 are in mines, £478 in ironworks, and £6,163 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 31,824; in 1861, 45,673, -of whom 372 were in Sunderland workhouse. ...

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 neighbouring 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/2/34 Date: March 1742-March 1743, March 1762-1855 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. The images for these transcripts have not yet been loaded and await engineering.

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 1567-1901 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Biw).

FamilySearch Historical Records includes England, Durham Diocese, Marriage Bonds and Allegations (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Poor Law Unions
Sunderland 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

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