Dalton le Dale, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
The parish church dedicated to St Andrew, is an an ancient parish with a Norman church referred to in 1363 Durham Diocesan records. It was subsequently divided to form additional parishes at Murton, Dawdon and Seaham Harbour.

DALTON-LE-DALE (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Easington, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham, 11 miles (E. by N.) from Durham, and 7 (S.) from Sunderland; comprising the townships of Dalton, Dawdon, Cold-Hesleton, and East Murton; and containing 2709 inhabitants, of whom 88 are in the township of Dalton. The parish is situated on the road from Sunderland to Stockton-upon-Tees, and bounded on the east by the German Ocean. The surface is undulated, but the scenery, though enlivened with about 100 acres of plantations, is in other respects bleak and of harsh character; the soil of the arable land is fertile, and the system of agriculture improved. Coal is abundant in the vicinity, and a new mine has been opened at Murton, by the South Hetton Company, at an immense expense; limestone of good quality is quarried, and burnt into lime for manure. The village lies in a deep narrow valley, within 2 miles of the sea, and the inhabitants are employed in agriculture and in the mines and quarries. Two railways for conveying coal from the adjacent collieries to Seaham harbour pass through the parish. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 0. 7.; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Durham, who have augmented the income to £300. The great tithes of the township of Dalton have been commuted for £70, and the small for £35; there is a vicarial glebe of 26 acres. The church is an ancient structure, in the early English style, with a Norman doorway now built up. The vicaragehouse was erected in 1841, and is a neat edifice, situated on rising ground, a little to the west of the turnpikeroad.

From: 'Dalton - Darfield', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 4-8. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50913 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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1646-1967 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL EP/DD).

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/70 Date: 1763-1867 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. Pending engineering correction the transcripts can be located under the mispelling "Calton le Dale".

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.

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

Poor Law Unions
Easington 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.