Byers Green, Durham Genealogy

England Durham  Durham Parishes



Parish History

 * BYERS-GREEN, a township, in the parish of St. Andrew Auckland, union of Auckland, S. E. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham, 4 miles (N. N. E.) from Bishop-Auckland.

The name was first recorded in 1183 as Byres and in 1562 as Byres Greine; byres is Old English meaning cowsheds with the addition of Middle English grene meaning a village green or hamlet.

The ecclesiastical parish has its origins in the 1845 creation of a chapelry in the ancient parish of Auckland St Andrew and the dedication that year of a church to St Peter the Apostle. Anglican Church records thus date from 1845.

In about 1877 part of the parish was excised to create a chapelry and later new parish of Binchester St. Barnabas.

In about 1900 part of the parish of Byers Green was excised to form a chapelry and later parish of Newfield.

The River Wear formed a natural boundary of the township of Byers Green and resulted in its relative isolation until the construction of the Queen Victoria Jubilee Bridge which was opened in 1887.

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.

Byers Green fell within the Auckland Registration District from 1837 until the parish was abolished in 1937.


 * Auckland Registration District information at GenUKI.

Church records
The early Church of England Parish Registers are deposited at Durham County Record Office. In summary they hold:

Details at: Byers Green, Durham Record Office.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections & Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/43 Date: July 1845-1846 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

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

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.

Poor Law Unions
Auckland Poor Law Union, Durham Sedgefield 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

 * "A Church Near You", Church of England pages for the parish church of St Peter the Apostle, Byers Green, Durham.
 * Parish website St Peter the Apostle, Church of England, Byers Green, Durham.