Cresswell, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland

Parish History
Cresswell Parish was created in 1836 from Woodhorn, Northumberland Ancient Parish. Ellington is a hamlet or village in the parish.

CRESSWELL, a township and ecclesiastical district in the union of Morpeth, E. division of Morpeth ward, N. division of Northumberland; the township containing 253 inabitants. This place has its name from a spring of fresh water at the east end of the village, the strand of which affords growth to watercresses. The district comprises the townships of Cresswell and Ellington, the former of which was a possession of the Cresswell family previous to the reign of King John: the surface is generally level; and there is a good freestone-quarry. The old tower and mansionhouse of the Cresswells front the sea, and have in view the fine beach and sands of Druridge bay; the tower is 21½ feet long, and 16½ feet wide, within, and consists of a strong room vaulted with stone, on the groundfloor, and two rooms above, approached by a circular stone staircase. The new mansion, Cresswell Hall, the seat of A. J. Baker Cresswell, Esq., is a magnificent structure, erected in 1822, at great cost, from a design by Shaw; the rooms are spacious, and the arrangements and fittings-up within as appropriate as the appearance of the mansion without is handsome: it is surrounded with fine plantations. The village lies east and west, upon a slope fronting the sea; it has been rebuilt and greatly beautified, and is chiefly tenanted by fishermen. The district was separated from the parish of Woodhorn in 1836: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Mr. Cresswell, with a net income of £100, a parsonage-house, and an acre of glebe. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, and consecrated Oct. 22nd, 1836, is in the Norman style, with windows of richly painted glass, and contains 240 sittings, of which 84 are free: the site of the edifice was presented by Mr. Cresswell, by whom the expense of its erection, and of the erection of the parsonage-house, amounting to more than £5000, was wholly defrayed.From: 'Creacombe - Cretingham', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 720-725. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50904 Date accessed: 10 March 2011.

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.

Parish Records
Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/67 Cresswell and Ellington 1837-1848 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. The images for Cresswell and Ellington have not been loaded correctly and await re-engineering. Images can be found by searching under Woodhorn, Northumberland pending removal and re-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.

Cresswell, St Bartholomew, Apostle and Martyr: Records of baptisms 1836-1983 and marriages 1869-1981 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. A transcript of monument inscriptions for Cresswell is available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept.

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

Poor Law Unions
Morpeth Poor Law Union, Northumberland

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Northumberland 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.