Bishopton, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
Bishopton is an ancient parish and the church St Peter's was enlarged in 1846/7. The parish includes Bishopton, East and West Newbiggin and Little Stainton.

BISHOPTON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Sedgefield, S. W. division of Stockton ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing, with the townships of Newbiggin and Little Stainton, 473 inhabitants, of whom 362 are in Bishopton township, 6 miles (W. by N.) from Stockton. The parish comprises 4016a. 3r. 10p., of which 2102 acres are in the township, and of these latter 1273 are arable, 790 pasture, 12 woodland, and 20 waste: the soil is various; gravel of good quality is obtained in abundance for the highways. The Clarence railway, and the Stockton and Darlington railway, run in a direction nearly parallel on each side of the village, which is pleasantly situated on an eminence, about a mile and a half from the former, and 4 miles from the latter. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 5. 10., and in the patronage of the Master of Sherburn Hospital: the tithes of the parish, belonging to the vicar, the master of the hospital, and the lessee of the corn tithes, have been commuted for £639. 1.; and there is a glebe of 67 acres. The church was partly rebuilt in 1790. In a field at the eastern extremity of the village is a large mound, with vestiges of an intrenchment, which is supposed to have been part of the fortifications that guarded the mansion of the faithful Roger de Conyers, from whom William de St. Barbara, elect Bishop of Durham, received powerful assistance in his struggle against Comyn, the usurper of the see, about the middle of the twelfth century.

From: 'Bishops-Wood - Blaby', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 267-270. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50804 Date accessed: 21 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.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/33 Date: March 1769-1854 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. The parish register images have not yet been loaded and await 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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1649-1965 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Bis).

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

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
Sedgefield 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.