Haltwhistle, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland  Northumberland Parishes

= Parish History =

HALTWHISTLE (Holy Cross), a town and parish, and the head of a union, in the W. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland; comprising the townships of Bellister, Blenkinsopp, East Coanwood, Featherstone, Haltwhistle, Hartley-Burn, Henshaw, Melkridge, Plainmellor, Ridley, Thirlwall, Thorngrafton, and Wall-Town. At Beltingham is an ancient endowed chapel, a handsome edifice; and at Greenhead another chapel, erected in 1828. There are places of worship in the parish for Independents, Presbyterians, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, and the Society of Friends.

The town, formerly called Haltwesel, is pleasantly situated on an eminence, on the high road, and commands a fine prospect of the surrounding country, including the windings of the Tyne. The buildings are irregular, and there are but few good houses; the inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water from wells, and from brooks situated to the north. The town is overlooked by the remarkable feature called the Castle Hill, a natural bank cut off from the ground to the north-east by the glen of Haltwhistle burn, and having apparently had its west end made steep by human labour, and certainly a breast-work or dyke of gravelly earth, about 3 or 4 feet high, added round its margin on the east, north, and west. Its summit is a plain of about 190 feet from east to west, and 74 from north to south; on which last side the escarpment seems to have been terraced, probably for cultivation. The market, in which grain is sold, is on Thursday. Fairs are held on May 14th and November 22nd, for horses, cattle, and general merchandise; statute-fairs on the Thursday before 12th May, and on the 11th November; and a tryst, principally for sheep, and recently established, on 17th September. The powers of the county debt-court of Haltwhistle, established in 1847, extend over the greater part of the registration-district of Haltwhistle. The township comprises 2759 acres, of which 1350 are waste or common. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12. 3. 1½., and in the patronage of the Bishop of Durham, with a net income of £593, and a glebe; impropriator, Sir Edward Blackett, Bart. The vicarial tithes for the townships of Melkridge and Henshaw were commuted on the inclosure of common land upwards of 35 years ago, for a farm called the Vicar's Allotment. The church is an ancient structure in the decorated English style, situated on a slope, between which and the river an alluvial plain or haugh of no great breadth intervenes; it contains a monument to the memory of a crusader. At Beltingham is an ancient endowed chapel, a handsome edifice; and at Greenhead another chapel, erected in 1828: the livings of both are perpetual curacies in the patronage of the Vicar. There are places of worship in the parish for Independents, Presbyterians, Primitive Methodists, Wesleyans, and the Society of Friends. A school, now conducted on the national system, was endowed in 1721 by Lady Capel, with the twelfth part of an estate at Faversham, in Kent. The poor law union of Haltwhistle includes the whole of the western division of Tindale ward, and contains five parishes, comprising eighteen townships, with a population of 5949. The Roman wall intersects the parish from east to west, and in some places may be distinctly traced, with the ditches on both sides, on a line with the ancient road from Newcastle to Carlisle; it is carried along the verge of the crags before mentioned, its stations, castles, and towers once mingling with their saw-like and spiral forms. The martyred Bishop Ridley was a native of the parish.

Additional information:

Haltwhistle Holy Cross is an ancient parish. It is only in 1178 that any solid reference to a church at Haltwhistle is made. Before this time it is believed that Aidan and Paulinus had links to Haltwhistle.

After the Battle of Heavenfield in 635 in which Oswald the Christian king of Northumbria defeated the heathen armies of Penda and Cadwallon, Aidan was sent from Iona to convert Northumbria. It is suggested that Aidan’s ministry in Haltwhistle is preserved in the place name of ‘Edens Lawn’, which lies to the west of the church, probably taken from the Celtic ‘Llan Aidan’.

The Grave covers to be found in the Sanctuary bear coats of arms of two local families, the Blenkinsopps and the Thirlwells. The Blenkinsopp grave covers contain three corn sheaves and the Thirlwell’s three boars heads.

= Parish Records =

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/120 Date: July 1758-June 1761, May 1768-1858 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.

Haltwhistle, Holy Cross: Records of baptisms 1695-1982, marriages 1705-1994 and burials 1656-1993 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1695-1875 and marriages 1656-1882 for this parish, but it is not included in Boyd's Marriage Index. Transcripts of baptisms 1691-1851, marriages 1691-1851 and burials 1656-1851 for Haltwhistle are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept.

A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Haltwhistle and Beltingham (microfiche TN73) is published by Northumberland and Durham Family History Society and these records are also available in book form at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Department.

= Nonconformist Records =

Northumberland Collections Service has the following records for nonconformist churches located in this parish:


 * Haltwhistle, St Wilfred (Roman Catholic) - Baptisms 1860-1900
 * Haltwhistle (Presbyterian) - Births/baptisms 1752-1874.
 * Greenhead, Blenkinsopp (Methodist) - Marriages 1900-1965
 * Haltwhistle P.M. Circuit (Methodist) - Baptisms 1851-1941
 * Haltwhistle Wesleyan Circuit (Methodist) - Baptisms 1844-1954
 * Haltwhistle, Westgate Circuit (Methodist) - Baptisms 1941-1968
 * Haltwhistle, Front Street (Methodist) - Marriages 1899-1972
 * Henshaw (Methodist) - Marriages 1899-1937
 * Bishops' Transcripts for the following Societies of Friends burials are available online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

Allendale, Alston, Edmondbyers And Haltwhistle Society of Friends:Allendale, Alston, Edmundbyers and Haltwhistle Friends (Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham) Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/2 Date: 1871-1892 Contents: In the ecclesiastical parishes of Allendale St Cuthbert (Northumberland), Alston (Cumberland), Edmundbyers (Durham) and Haltwhistle (Northumberland) Related material at DULASC: DDR/EA/PBT/2/9 1871-1892


 * Haltwhistle Society of Friends: 1865-1885Allendale, Alston, Edmundbyers and Haltwhistle Friends (Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham) Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/2 Date: 1871-1892 Contents: In the ecclesiastical parishes of Allendale St Cuthbert (Northumberland), Alston (Cumberland), Edmundbyers (Durham) and Haltwhistle (Northumberland) Related material at DULASC: DDR/EA/PBT/2/9
 * Alston and Haltwhistle Friends: 1873-1884 Alston and Haltwhistle Friends (Cumberland, Northumberland) Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/9 Date: 1873-1884 Contents: In the ecclesiastical parishes of Alston (C) and Haltwhistle (N) Related material at DULASC: DDR/EA/PBT/2/2
 * A transcript of monument inscriptions for Coan Wood Society Of Friends burial ground is available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept.