Allendale, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland



Parish History
Allendale St Cuthbert began as chapelry in the ancient parish of Hexham. Allendale Parish is divided into nine grieveships: Allendale Town, Broadside, Catton, High Forest, Low Forest, Keenley, Park, West Allen (High) and West Allen (Low). The village of Allenheads is situated in High Forest Grieveship, Ninebanks (previously Nine Banks) is in West Allen (Low), and Carr Shield is in West Allen (High).

The parish of Allendale St Peter was created a parish in 1819 as a former chapelry within the parish of St Cuthbert.

ALLENDALE, a market-town and parish, in the union of Hexham, S. division of Tindale ward and of Northumberland, 7 miles (S.) from Haydon-Bridge, 9¾ miles (S. W. by W.) from Hexham, and 286 (N. N. W.) from London; comprising the grieveships of Allendale town, Broadside, Catton, High and Low Forest, Keenly Park, and West Allen High and Low; and containing 5729 inhabitants. The Town, which includes 1217 persons, is irregularly built on an acclivity gradually rising from the eastern bank of the river Allen, over which a bridge was erected in 1825. The market is on Friday: fairs are held on the Friday before the 11th of May, on the 22nd of August, and the first Friday after the festival of St. Luke, for horses, cattle, and sheep; and a cattle show, which has been established within the last few years, is annually held. In the market-place are the ruins of a cross. The Parish derives its name from the river Allen, a small but rapid stream which rises in the hamlet of Allenheads, in East Allen, and Coalcleugh, in West Allen, and falls into the river Tyne about three miles to the west of Haydon-Bridge, where is a station of the Newcastle and Carlisle railway. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the lead-mines, which are on a large scale, producing upwards of 3500 tons of lead annually. There are several works for grinding and washing the ore, and two extensive smelting-houses, one having an horizontal chimney 2½ miles long, with a terminus upwards of 780 feet above the ground-floor of the mill, and the other a chimney 1½ mile in length, and 700 feet above the ground-floor; in one of these smelting-houses twenty-one tons pass through the furnace weekly, and a considerable quantity of silver is separated. Limestone is extensively quarried, and there are also numerous quarries of stone of good quality for building. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £130; patron, T. W. Beaumont, Esq. The church is of stone, rebuilt in 1807. Within the parish also are four chapels, in the gift of the incumbent of Allendale, viz. St. Peter's, rebuilt in 1825, a perpetual curacy, of which the net income is £120; the chapel at Nine-Banks, partially rebuilt about 1816, a perpetual curacy, with an income of £124; the chapel at the Carr Shield, or West Allen High chapel, built in 1822, also a perpetual curacy, of which the income is £109; and that of Allenheads, described under its proper head. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends and Wesleyans. A free school for the children of parishioners is endowed with two tenements, bequeathed by William Hutchinson in 1692, producing a rental of £24; and with other premises and thirty-two acres of land, in Broadside, purchased with a legacy of Christopher Wilkinson in 1700, and yielding £38 per annum. Various other schools are connected with the different places of worship in the parish; and some small sums, the principal of which is an annuity of £10 from Shield's charity, are distributed annually among the poor. There are several chalybeate springs; and at a place called Old Town, about three miles to the north-west, are vestiges of an ancient intrenchment, of a square form, supposed to be Roman.

From: 'Alfrick - Allerston', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 34-37. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50750 Date accessed: 15 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/2/4 1838-1852 and 1843-April 1853 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. Also available under the same reference are the Burial Ground Register transcripts for 1871-1892 for the Allendale, Alston, Edmundbyers and Haltwhistle Friends. See also Alston and Haltwhistle Friends, Edmundbyers Friends and Haltwhistle Friends.

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.


 * Allendale, St Cuthbert: Records of baptisms 1662-1964, marriages 1662-1972 and burials 1662-1929 are available at Northumberland Collections Service  Bishops' Transcripts for the periods 1740-1770 and 1772-1842 are deposited at the Borthwick Institute University of York. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1662-1875 and marriages 1662-1877 for Allendale Parish but it is not included in Boyd's Marriage Index. Transcripts of baptisms and marriages 1662-1684, burials 1662-1684, 1690-1851 and of monument inscriptions are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept.
 * Allendale, St Peter in the Forest and Allenheads: Records of baptisms 1785-1952, marriages 1828-1950 and burials 1785-1959 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Bishops' Transcripts for the periods 1792-1837, 1839 and 1840 are deposited at the Borthwick Institute University of York. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1785-1875 and marriages 1823-1876 for this parish but it is not included in Boyd's Marriage Index. A transcript of burials 1762-1825 is available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. For earlier entries see Allendale, St Cuthbert.

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

Poor Law Unions
Hexham 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.