Whitworth, Durham Genealogy

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

Parish History
WHITWORTH, a parochial chapelry, partly in the union of Auckland, and partly in that of Durham, SE division of Darlington ward, S division of the county of Durham.

Additional information: In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Whitworth like this:

WHITWORTH, a parish in Auckland district, Durham; around Spennymoor railway station, and 4 miles NE by N of Bishop-Auckland. It contains Spennymoor, which has a post-office under Ferryhill. Acres, 1,465. Real property, £7,402; of which £5,219 are in mines, and £50 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 659; in 1861, 3,629. Houses, 636. W. Park is the seat of R. Duncombe, Esq. Old Park belonged once to the Bishops of Durham; became the residence of Dr. Wharton; was frequently visited, in his time, by the poet Gray; passed to the Myddleton family; and was recently sold to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £340.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of D. The church was restored in 1850. A chapel of ease and three dissenting chapels are at Spennymoor.

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
Whitworth 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

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images
 * The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Wesleyan Methodist

Poor Law Unions

 * Auckland 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
Whitworth on GENUKI