Heighington, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
St Michael the Archangel Heighington church is an ancient parish and parts of the church structure are Norman. The area covered by this parish include Coatsay Moor,Heighington, Middridge Grange, Redworth, School Aycliffe and Walworth.

HEIGHINGTON (St. Michael), a parish, in the unions of Darlington and Auckland, S. E. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing, with the townships of Coatsamoor, Killerby, Redworth, School-Aycliffe, and Walworth, 1347 inhabitants, of whom 695 are in the township of Heighington, 6½ miles (N. N. W.) from Darlington. This parish, anciently Hetchinton, comprises by measurement 8215 acres, of which about two-thirds are arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture, with a small portion of woodland. The substratum abounds with good limestone, of which great quantities are procured, and conveyed by the Darlington railway, which is joined at Sim-Pasture farm, in this parish (where is a station), by the Clarence railway, from the river Tees near Haverton Hill. The village is situated on elevated ground, and commands very extensive views, bounded by the Cleveland hills; the air is remarkably salubrious, and the place distinguished for the longevity of its inhabitants: water is supplied by pipes from a distance of a quarter of a mile. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 14. 9½.; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Durham: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £322. The church is an ancient structure, of which the body and the tower are of Norman architecture: the aisle is of later date; and in 1841 the whole of the interior was renewed, and eight handsome windows of a uniform style inserted, at an expense of £500. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans. The free grammar school was founded in 1601, by Elizabeth Jennison, of Walworth, who endowed it with £10 per annum; the income is now £52. 10., arising from endowments by the Rev. Edward Kirby, vicar of the parish, in 1697, and the Bishop of Durham in 1724. A mount here is supposed to have been the site of a Roman encampment. Catesby, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder plot, resided at Midridge Grange, in the parish.

From: 'Hedon - Helmington', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 466-470. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51022 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.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/133 1765-1821 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.

Poor Law Unions
Darlington 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.