Birtley, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland

Parish History
Birtley St Giles parochial chapelry was separated from the parish of Chollerton, Northumberland in 1765, and received an independent jurisdiction. It includes the townships of Broomhope with Buteland, and anciently formed part of the barony of Prudhoe.

BIRTLEY, a parochial chapelry, in the union of Bellingham, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 5 miles (S. E. by S.) from Bellingham; containing, with the township of Broomhope with Buteland, 472 inhabitants. It is situated on the east of the North Tyne: the land in the northern part is mountainous and sterile, but near the bank of the river it is of better quality. Coal and limestone are found in the vicinity. The place was separated from the parish of Chollerton, and formed into a chapelry, in 1765. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £84; patron, the Duke of Northumberland. The chapel is a small ancient edifice. The great tithes of the High and Low divisions of Birtley have been commuted for £70, and the vicarial tithes for £129.

From: 'Birstal - Bishopstrow', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 263-267. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50803 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 DDR/EA/PBT/2/29 1769-1834 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records; however the images for this parish have not yet been loaded and await future engineering of the whole collection.

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.

Birtley, St Giles: Records of baptisms 1730-1991, marriages 1730-1976 and burials 1728-1993 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Bishops' Transcripts for the period 1769-1834 are deposited at Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections, Palace Green, Durham City. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1728-1875 and marriages 1730-1877 for this parish, but it is not included in Boyd's Marriage Index.

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

Poor Law Unions
Bellingham 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
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.