Auckland St Andrew, Durham Genealogy

England Durham  Durham Parishes



Parish History
Auckland St Andrew is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Durham. Other places in the parish include: Pollard's Land, Pollard's Lands, South Bedburn, South Church Westerton, Windleston, Windlestone, Barony, Binchester, Bishop Auckland, Bondgate in Auckland, Coundon Grange, Eldon, Helmington, Middlestone, Middridge, Middridge Grange, Midridge, Newfield, Newton Cap, North Bedburn, and Old Park.

From Samuel A. Lewis mid-19th century perspective--

"AUCKLAND, ST. ANDREW, [was] a parish, in the union of Auckland, partly in the S. E., but chiefly in the N. W., division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham. In the S. E. division are the townships of Byers-Green, Coundon-Grange, Eldon, Middlestone, Midridge, Midridge-Grange, Old-Park, Westerton, and Windleston; while the N. W. division includes the market-town of Bishop-Auckland, the chapelries of St. Helen Auckland and Hamsterley, and the townships of St. Andrew, West Auckland, North and South Bedburn, Barony, Binchester, Coundon, Evenwood, Hunwick with Helmington, Lynesack with Softley, Newfield, Newton-Cap, Pollard's Lands, Shildon, and East Thickley; the whole containing 19,100 inhabitants, of whom 1367 are in the township of St. Andrew, 1 mile (S.) from Bishop-Auckland. This extensive parish comprises by computation 11,195 acres, and contains six considerable villages; it abounds with coal and limestone, and its surface is highly varied.

There are distinct [churches] at Byers-Green, Coundon, Escomb, Etherley, Hamsterley, St. Helen's, and Shildon; also places of worship for Independents, Ranters, the Society of Friends, and others."

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.

The Parish Registers are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL

The Bishop's Transcripts collection held in the University of Durham Library Archives and Special Collections can be viewed free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

The transcripts with gaps are held under reference DDR/EA/PBT/2/12 are for March 1765 - 1851 and the collection also includes some  transcripts for Escomb (County Durham) May 1795-1803. See separate series of transcripts for Escomb.

Due to the gaps in the Durham Bishop's Transcripts in most parishes in the post 1760 transcript collection it is advisable to search the original parish registers.

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

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