Whitfield, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland

Parish History
Whitfield is an ancient parish and nowadays is dedicated to Holy Trinity but the earlier church was decicated to St Mary. Holy Trinity was dedicated in 1860 and was the gift of the Rev'd and Mrs. J. A. Blackett-Ord in memory of William Ord Esq. from whom Mrs. Blackett-Ord had inherited the whole estate. It replaced St. John's church which was dedicated in 1813. Many of the stones from St. John's were used in the building of Holy Trinity. The registers start in 1612 and the list of Rectors in 1180 with Robert de Quitfield which confirms the existence of a church at that time. WHITFIELD, a parish, in the union of Haltwhistle, W. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 15 miles (W. S. W.) from Hexham; containing 333 inhabitants. This place was for six centuries the property of the Whitfield family, to whom the Countess Ada, widow of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, and mother of William the Lion, King of Scotland, made a grant of it in fee, with the exception of some lands to be held under the convent of Hexham; shortly after which, the family had a grant from that establishment of nearly all Whitfield. In the middle of the last century, it came to the family of Ord, the present possessors, under whose encouragement the highways have been repaired, inclosures made, plantations formed, and by whom numerous substantial and comfortable farmhouses and cottages have been built. The parish contains 12,157 acres, of which 6397 are moor, 5300 arable, pasture, and meadow, and 460 wood. It is bounded on the east by the parish of Allendale, and on the south by AlstonMoor in Cumberland. The inclosed lands lie near the river Allen, which flows on the east, and are hemmed in on the west and south by extensive sheep-walks, and on the north with the woody dell called King's-Wood; they comprise some tracts of excellent land, chiefly in dairy and grazing farms. The East and West Allen join their streams at Cupola, in the parish, where the London Lead Company formerly had large smelting-mills. A new line of road from Alston to Haydon-Bridge has been formed through the parish. Whitfield Hall, rebuilt in 1785, and lately enlarged, is a handsome mansion in the vale of Allen, and overlooks a fine park interspersed with luxuriant groups of forest-trees, and embracing much rural beauty. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £8, and in the patronage of William Ord, Esq., owner of the parish: the tithes have been commuted for £260, and there is a glebe of 43½ acres. The church was rebuilt in 1784, by the Ord family, who had previously erected a new parsonagehouse. The structure is very substantial, consists of a nave and chancel, with a square tower, and is capable of holding 230 persons. The chancel was rebuilt in 1839, by Mr. Ord, from designs by Mr. John Green, of Newcastle, and is ornamented with painted windows, and a carved oak roof; it contains a monument to the late William Henry Ord, Esq., M.P., a lord of the treasury under the administration of Earl Grey. At Redmires is a chalybeate spring.

From: 'Whitefield - Whitkirk', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 551-555. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51399 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 Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/268 Date: June 1760-1876 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.

Whitfield, St John/Holy Trinity: Records of baptisms 1611-1959, marriages 1605-1980 and burials 1611-1959, 1981 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1612-1875 (with gaps) and marriages 1606-1877 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1606-1812 and banns 1754-1812. Transcripts of baptisms 1611-1812, marriages 160(?)-1812 and burials 1611-1812 are available in the Local Studies Departments of Newcastle Central Library and Gateshead Central Library. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Whitfield (microfiche TN79) is published by Northumberland and Durham Family History Society and these records are also available in book form at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Department.

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
Haltwhistle 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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