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England Newcastle upon Tyne (city)

Guide to Newcastle upon Tyne history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
Newcastle-Upon Tyne (to be distinguished from Newcastle-under Lyme in Staffordshire) is the premier city of northwest England.

The first recorded settlement in what is now Newcastle was Pons Aelius, a Roman fort and bridge across the River Tyne. It was given the family name of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who founded it in the 2nd century AD. The population of Pons Aelius at this period was estimated at 2,000.

The Emperor Hadrian is known in history as the roman Emperor who commissioned the structure known as Hadrian's Wall. This wall, a huge civil undertaking, stretches across northern England from the west to the East, and was about 85 miles long. It's function was to act as a barrier or deterrent for the marauding Scottish hordes that were pillaging northern England.

Fragments of Hadrian's Wall are still visible in parts of Newcastle, particularly along the West Road.

After the Roman departure from Britain, completed in 410, Newcastle became part of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and became known throughout this period as Monkchester. Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress. Incorporated first by Henry II, the city had a new charter granted by Elizabeth in 1589.

In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle was one of the first cities in the world to be lit up by electric lighting.

LOCATION
Newcastle upon Tyne, known commonly and locally as just Newcastle, is located on the north bank of the river Tyne. It is about 280 miles north of London, but in close proximity to Leeds, Sheffield, and Manchester. It is about 9 miles from the North Sea, and the river is navigable for oceangoing vessels as far as the city docks.

The ground beneath the city is formed from Carboniferous strata of the Middle Pennine Coal Measures Group—a suite of sandstones, mud-stones and coal seams which generally dip moderately eastwards. To the west of the city are the Upper Pennine Coal Measures and further west again the sandstones and mud-stones of the Stainmore Formation. The area to the west of the city has been known for centuries as the source of much of the coal for north east England.

RELIGION
Newcastle has three cathedrals, the Anglican St. Nicholas, with its elegant lantern tower of 1474, the Roman Catholic St. Mary's designed by Augustus Welby Pugin and the Coptic Cathedral located in Fenham. It is extremely unusual in England to have a high Coptic (Egyptian Christian) population, but Newcastle does.

Newcastle is home to the only Bahá’í Center (Ancient Persian religion) in North East England, the center has served the local Bahá’í community for over 25 years and is located close to the Civic Center in Jesmon.

Newcastle was also a prominent center of the Plymouth Brethren movement up to the 1950s and some small congregations still function. Among these are at the Hall, Denmark Street and Gospel Hall, St Lawrence.

It should be noted that, anciently, Newcastle upon Tyne started out as a single parish. However with the major growth in population starting at the Industrial Revolution, the main city now incorporates a number of separate parishes, and is no longer a parish, but a city Cathedral disrict of the Church of England.

INDUSTRY
Newcastle played a major role during the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, and was a leading center for coal mining and manufacturing. In addition to actual manufacturing sites, Newcastle was the de facto port for the shipment of products from neighboring manufacturing areas, and also for coal from the many collieries in the area.

However heavy industries in Newcastle have declined in the second half of the 20th century. Additionally more than 95% of all British coal mines have been shut since about 1980.

Today Newcastle is more known for service industries such as banking, education, and publishing for the north east.

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.

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.

CEMETERIES AND GRAVEYARDS

 * Newcastle cemeteries and graves


 * Findagrave, West Road cemetery


 * Findagrave Heaton cemetery


 * Findagrave All Saints cemetery


 * Findagrave Old Jesmond cemetery

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES

 * Northumberland and Durham Genealogy Society


 * Local Newcastle genealogy records


 * Forebears, Newcastle


 * genuki Northumberland