South Shields St Stephen, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
South Shields St Stephen was created a parish in 1846-8 from South Shields St Hilda.

Parts of this parish became part of these parishes: South Shields St. Aidan (1885)

Another dedicated to the Holy Trinity was erected in the Western Commercial-road, in 1834, at a cost of £3350, chiefly defrayed by the Dean and Chapter; it is a handsome structure with a square embattled tower, containing 1200 sittings, of which 800 are free: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £350; patrons, the Dean and Chapter. There is an oratory at Harton, which is a curacy in the patronage of the Incumbent of South Shields; and an additional church has been erected at the east end of the town, within the chapelry of St. Hilda, at a cost of about £2000: it was consecrated in October 1846, and is dedicated to St. Stephen. The design is of the early English style, with a tower surmounted by a spire, and the building contains 800 sittings, including 500 free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter, with a net income of £200. There are three places of worship belonging to the Wesleyans; two each to the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists of the New Connexion; and one each to the Independents, Primitive Methodists, and members of the United Secession Church

From: 'Shereford - Shifford', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 74-80. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51270 Date accessed: 24 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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1846-1961 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/SS.SS).

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Date: October 1846-1848 Related material at DULASC: All South Shields St Stephen transcripts are included with South Shields St Hilda transcripts DDR/EA/PBT/2/227 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. FamilySearch will need to re-engineer the parish transcript images in future

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 1846-1985 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/SS.SS).

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Poor Law Unions
South Shields 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.