Berwick upon Tweed Holy Trinity, Northumberland Genealogy

Northumberland Northumberland Parishes

Parish History
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED (Holy Trinity), a port, borough, market-town,parish, and county of itself, and the head of a union, 64 miles (N. by W.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 334 (N. by W.) from London.

Holy Trinity Church is one of very few churches built during the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. It is of considerable architectural interest. The church was built in 1652 by a London mason, John Young of Blackfriars, and is striking because of its Laudian combination of Gothic and Renaissance features. The lack of tower or spire gives the church an unusual appearance. The interior of Berwick Parish Church with its arcade of five bays on Tuscan columns and rounded arches is surprisingly beautiful. The many Venetian windows are characteristic of the church. The chancel and vestry were added in 1855 and there is a reredos by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £20; net income, £289; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The church is a handsome structure in the decorated English style, built during the usurpation of Cromwell, and is without a steeple. One of the Fishbourn lectureships is established here. There are places of worship for members of the Scottish Kirk, the Associate Synod, the Scottish Relief, Particular Baptists, Wesleyans, and Roman Catholics. A school for the instruction of the sons of burgesses in English and the mathematics was founded and endowed by the corporation, in 1798; to each department there is a separate master, paid by the corporation, and the average number of pupils is about 300. The burgesses have also the patronage of a free grammar school, endowed in the middle of the seventeenth century by Sir William Selby, of the Moat, and other charitable persons. The Blue-coat charity-school was founded in 1758 by Captain Bolton, and endowed with £800, since augmented with several benefactions, especially with one of £1000 by Richard Cowle, who died at Dantzic in 1819; the whole income is £155, which is applied to educating about 150 boys, of whom 40 are also clothed. The school of industry for girls, established in 1819, affords instruction to 106 girls; and there are several infant, Sunday, and other schools. A pauper lunatic house was erected in 1813, and a dispensary established in 1814. A considerable part of the corporation land is allotted into "meadows" and "stints," and given rent-free to the resident freemen and freemen's widows, according to seniority, for their respective lives. Among the most important bequests for the benefit of the poor, are, £1000 by Richard Cowle, £1000 by John Browne in 1758, and £28 per annum by Sarah Foreman in 1803. The poor law union of which the town is the head comprises seventeen parishes and places, sixteen of them being in the county of Durham; and contains a population of 20,938. Some remains are still visible of the ancient castle of Berwick, and of a pentagonal tower near it; also of a square fort in Magdalen fields, and some entrenchments on Hallidown Hill. All vestiges of the ancient churches and chapels of the town, the Benedictine nunnery said to have been founded by David, King of Scotland, the monasteries of Black, Grey, White, and Trinitarian friars, and three or four hospitals, have entirely disappeared. The Magdalen fields, already mentioned, belonged to the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen. During the reigns of William the Lion, and of Edward I., II., III., and other Scottish and English monarchs, Berwick was a place of mintage, and several of its coins are still preserved. There is a mineral spring close to the town, which is occasionally resorted to by invalids.

'Berkhampstead - Berwick-upon-Tweed', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 214-223. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50794&amp;strquery=berwick upon tweed Date accessed: 05 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 DDR/EA/PBT/2/25 March 1764-1840 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records; however the images of the parish transcripts have not yet been loaded.

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.

Berwick, Holy Trinity: Records of baptisms 1574-1972, marriages 1572-1992 and burials 1572-1915 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Baptisms 1574-1924, marriages 1572-1932 and burials 1572-1915 can also be seen at Berwick Record Office. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1574-1812 and marriages 1695-1812 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1572-1812 and banns 1776-1812. Transcripts of baptisms 1574-1812, marriages 1572-1812 and burials 1574-1812 for Berwick are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. and Gateshead Central Library, Local Studies Dept. has transcripts covering baptisms 1574-1700 and marriages 1572-1812.

Poor Law Unions
Berwick 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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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