Lynesack, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
Lynesack St John was created in 1850 from chapelry in Hamsterley, Durham Ecclesiastical Parish and includes South Side and South Bedburn.

LYNESACK, with Softley, a township, in the chapelry of Hamsterley, parish of St. Andrew Auckland, union of Auckland, N. W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham, 6 miles (N. by W.) from Staindrop; containing 910 inhabitants. This extensive township, commonly called South Side, is bounded on the south by the river Gaunless or Wanless, and on the north by the Lin-burn, and comprises the hamlets of Houl, Lynesack, Potter-Cross, Softley, and Trough-Lane Head. The land is mostly of a cold nature, especially towards the north, and a small portion is barren waste; the surface is boldly diversified with hills. Coal is found in great abundance, and several mines are in operation, the produce of which is sent into Yorkshire and the adjacent country. Ironstone is also found, and in the township are some works for smelting the ore, belonging to the Duke of Cleveland. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans. A considerable portion of the land is tithe free.

From: 'Lydham - Lyng', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 198-203. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51126 Date accessed: 25 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 1848-1960 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Lyn). part of this parish later became Woodland St Mary

Poor Law Unions
Auckland 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.