Rainton, Durham Genealogy

Guide to Rainton, Durham family history and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
RAINTON, EAST, a township, in the parish and union of Houghton-le-Spring, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham; formerly called Reynington. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

RAINTON, WEST, a township, in the parish and union of Houghton-le-Spring, N. division of Easington ward and of the county of Durham, 4¼ miles (N. E.) from Durham. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Additional information: St Mary West Rainton was built as a parish church in 1864, but the chapelry of Rainton built in 1825 was a chapelry within the parish of Houghton le Spring, Durham. The chapelry and parish included Cocken, Moorhouse and West Rainton. The parish was created by order in Council 15 May 1838.

St Cuthbert East Rainton was created as a parish in 1866 from West Rainton St Mary parish. Subsequently the parishes of Chilton Moor St Andrew (1872) and Moorsley St Oswald (circa 1947) were created from its boundaries.

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
Rainton parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Durham County Record Office.

Non Conformist Churches

 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Primitive Methodist
 * Roman Catholic
 * Wesleyan Methodist

Poor Law Unions
Houghton le Spring 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

Websites
Rainton (see Houghton le Srping) on GENUKI