Byrness, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland



Parish History
Byrness St Francis is a parish created from a former chapelry in Elsdon ancient parish in 1801 and had long been a burial ground. It is on the border with Scotland. BYRNESS, a chapelry, in the parish of Elsdon, union of Rothbury, S. division of Coquetdale ward, N. division of Northumberland, 13¾ miles (N. N. W.) from Bellingham. This place is situated on the road from Newcastle to Jedburgh, and is watered by the Rede river: coal-mines, freestone, and limestone are worked. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £75; patron, the Rector of Elsdon. The income is paid from Queen Anne's Bounty and the rent of 16 acres of land; there is a good glebe-house, with about 3 acres of land attached. The chapel was built by subscription, in 1793, in an ancient burial-ground; it is 34 feet long, by 22 wide, and has a very small chancel, and a porch at the west end. Here was a Druidical temple, but every vestige of it has disappeared.

From: 'Buttolphs - Bywell', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 462-467. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50850 Date accessed: 14 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/ 2/44 June 1800-1803 and for 1813 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

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. Byrness, St Francis: Records of baptisms 1797-1978, marriages 1886-1922 and burials 1813-1977 are available at [Northumberland Collections Service]. Byrness is not included in the IGI or in Boyd's Marriage Index. Transcripts of baptisms and burials 1797-1812 and of monument inscriptions are 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
Rothbury 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.