Benfieldside, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
Benfieldside St. Cuthbert was created in 1847 from St. Ebba Ebchester, Durham;  Medomsley, Durham St. Mary Magdalene

Parts of this parish became part of these parishes: Blackhill St. Aidan (1884); Consett Christ Church (1862)

Although not a village in its own right (ecclesiastically it incorporates Shotley Bridge, Bridgehill and much of Blackhill), it is signposted and locally known. The name 'Benfieldside' survives in Benfieldside Road, a school of that name, the local tennis club and the church. Its post office no longer exists, though one remains in the village of Shotley Bridge. The Parish Church is dedicated to St. Cuthbert and is situated on Church Bank. The area is situated directly to the north of Consett, to which it is effectively attached.

BENFIELDSIDE, a township, in the chapelry of Medomsley, parish and union of Lanchester, W. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 14 miles (N. W. by N.) from Durham; containing 1074 inhabitants. The bishops of Durham formerly appointed foresters or keepers of their woods of Benfieldside, and elsewhere, within the parish. The township is on the river Derwent, which here separates the county from Northumberland; and is intersected by the Derwent and Shotley-Bridge, and the Newcastle and Stanhope, roads. It comprises 1828a. 1r. 25p., of which 1019 acres are arable, 410 pasture, 318 wood, and 80 acres highways, buildings, waste, &amp;c.; the soil is generally clay upon a substratum of freestone rock, and the surface hilly, some of the highest hills being 700 or 800 feet above the level of the sea. There are mines of coal and ironstone, quarries of freestone in great variety, and some fine clay; the manufacture of paper is extensively carried on, and there are an iron-foundry, a saw-mill, a flour-mill, &amp;c. A branch to Medomsley of the Pontop and South Shields railway terminates about 1½ mile from Shotley-Bridge. The lands are chiefly tithe-free. One of the first meeting-houses for the Society of Friends in the north of England was established in the township; there are also places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans

From: 'Bempton - Benthall', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 207-210. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50792 Date accessed: 26 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.

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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1848-1979 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Be).

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

Poor Law Unions
Lanchester 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.