Longhorsley, Northumberland Genealogy

Guide to Longhorsley, Northumberland ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HORSLEY, a township, in the parish of Ovingham, union of Hexham, E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 9¾ miles (W. by N.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There is a place of worship for Independents.

Additional information:

Longhorsley St Helen is an Ancient Parish and includes: Bigge's Quarter, Carlisle's Quarter, Chirn, Freeholders' Quarter, Garrotlee, Longhorsley Moor, Longshaws, Moresley Moor, Riddell's Quarter, Stanton, Todburn, Wholm, Wingates, Wingates Moor, and Witton Shields. The Norman church, now in ruins although the churchyard is still in use, is half a mile south of Longhorsley village and possibly replaced a wooden Saxon building. The earliest record of a vicar here is from 1299.In 1783 the church was entirely rebuilt on the old foundations. It was a plain structure, the main feature being an attractive trefoil chancel arch. Lack of facilities and the need for extensive renovation made it necessary to abandon it in 1966 The old Church of England school in the village (West Road) was then taken over, adapted, and is now the church. It was built in 1848. In 1981 the porch of the old church was dismantled and rebuilt on the west end and is now the main entrance.

Horsley was an old English name and could be defined as a wood or clearing where horses grazed. The name "Long" was added to distinguish it from another Horsley. In fact in the Latin recors, it was Horsley-longa. Longhorsley was one of the main routes to Scotland, the Roman Road called the Devil's Causeway ran from Portgate north of Corbridge, Northumberland in a direct line to Tweedmouth, passing through Netherwitton, Northumberland, Todburn and Longframlington, Northumberland.

A curious feature of the village is that the Norman church was situated more than half a mile south of the modern village on the Whemley Burn. In examination of the subsidy rolls of Edward I it is remarkable how heavily the village was rated. [The subsidy rolls record levies on places to finance the Scottish wars]. In comparison to the head of the de Merley Barony, nearby Morpeth, Longhorsley pays a higher levy. 23 taxpayers are listed in the subsidy rolls and they would have been a smaller part of the local population.

In 1271 Roger de Merley the Third had died and his daughter Mary married William, Baron Greystock. He became the Lord of Morpeth and other de Merley lands, including Longhorsley. In the subsidy roll the highest rated Longhorsley resident is a member of this family.

The Rectory is valued highly also [the value of the office not the building] and the advowson [right of presentation to the church living] was granted by Lord Greystock to the Priory of Brinkburn; on of their canons would hold the office and appoint a curate.

In 1299 Robert Dathenorth was admitted to the vicarage of the church of Horsley-longa by Walter Grey, Archbishop of York, 1299

The dedication to St Helen recalls the wife of the Roman general called Constantius Chonis who served in Britain. The de Merley family held Learchild part of Beanley, where there was a Roman fort on the Devil's Causeway. Helen was said to be an inkeeper's daughter from Bithynia in the East and when Constantinus Chonis returned to Rome in 292 A.D. he divorced her. She was however the mother of Constantine, The Roman Governor in North Britain based at York. She made a pilgrimage to the Holy land, where she died 330 A.D. at the age of 80 and was buried at Rome. Her feast is celebrated in the East (with Constantine) on 21 May but in the West on 18 August.

In the North East of England there are 135 churches dedicated to St Helen.

Civil Registration Districts

 * Rothbury
 * Morpeth

registration events post 1837 may be searched online at Free BMD

Church Records
Longhorsley parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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

Records are also available at the Northumberland Archives.

Poor Law Unions
Morpeth Poor Law Union, Northumberland

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