Witton le Wear, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
Witton le Wear is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Durham, created in 1724 from chapelry in Auckland St Andrew, Durham Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: North Bedburn and Witton Park.

WITTON-LE-WEAR (St. Philip and St. James), a parish, m the union of Auckland, N. W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham, 5 miles (W. N. W.) from Bishop-Auckland; containing 1017 inhabitants. It is intersected by the road from West Auckland to Corbridge, and comprises by computation 5060 acres, of which 2677 are in the township; of the latter, 1221 acres of arable, 1210 grassland, 186 wood, and 58 road and waste. The surface is much diversified, a ridge extending from west to east, with slopes to the north, and a steeper descent to the narrow river-vale on the south; the soil is chiefly sharp, gravelly, and alluvial, in some parts loam, and to the north a poor clay. The village is situated on the acclivity of an eminence rising from the north bank of the Wear, which is crossed by a bridge. The scenery around is of great beauty, and on the south bank of the stream is Witton Castle, skirted on the west by the narrow dell of the Lyn burn, which joins the Wear a little below the bridge. This castle, built about 1410, was the baronial mansion of the lords d'Eure, many of whom signalized themselves in border warfare; it is a large oblong edifice, with towers and turrets, and a handsome gateway entrance in the Norman style recently added by Sir W. Chaytor. In the great civil war it was held by Sir William d'Arcy for the king, and was besieged and taken by the parliamentarians, under Sir Arthur Haslerigg. The castle and estate have been sold by Sir W. Chaytor for nearly £100,000. Good coal abounds in the vicinity, at a moderate depth, and from the south side of the river large quantities are exported: sandstone, which is in general the substratum, is quarried for building purposes, and blue lias for the roads. At Witton Park pit is a manufactory for fire-bricks and draining-tiles. There is railway communication with the neighbourhood of Wolsingham, on one side, and with Darlington, Stockton, and Hartlepool, on the other. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £94: the church, an ancient structure, is in the early English style, but much disfigured by incongruous alterations and repairs. A school was endowed in 1766, with £8 per annum; and the interest of £110. 16. 6., the amount of various benefactions, is distributed among the poor.

From: 'Wittenham, Little - Witton, West', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 636-639. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51420 Date accessed: 25 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.

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.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/278 1765-1859 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at 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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1558-1978 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/WW).

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.