Nether Witton, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland



Parish History
St Giles Nether Witton was a parochial chapelry and included Coat Yards, Ewesley, Healey and Comb Hill, Nether Witton, Nunnykirk, Ritton, and Colt Park, and Ritton White House.

In 1835 it was created as an Ecclesiatical parish from the Hartburn St Andrew, Northumberland Ancient parish.

WITTON, NETHER (St. Giles), a parish, in the union, and W. division of the ward, of Morpeth, N. division of Northumberland, 7¾ miles (W. N. W.) from Morpeth; containing, with the townships of Coatyards, Ewesley, Healey with Comb-Hill, Nunnykirk, Ritton-Coltpark, and Ritton-Whitehouse, 464 inhabitants, of whom 295 are in Nether Witton township. The manor anciently belonged to Gospatrick, Earl of Durham, who gave it in marriage with his only daughter, Julian, to Ranulph de Merlay, from whom it passed to Roger de Somerville, Lord of Wichenor, in the county of Stafford. In the 14th century, it became the property of Roger de Thornton, who built the ancient baronial tower, and, dying in 1429, was succeeded by his son, whose daughter and heiress conveyed it by marriage to George, Lord Lumley, of Lumley Castle. The estate subsequently became again the property of the Thornton family, of whom James left two daughters, who, as co-heiresses, conveyed it by marriage to the Trevelyans and the Withams, whose descendants are at present its proprietors. The surface is pleasingly varied, and the scenery enriched with extensive tracts of woodland abounding in stately oak and larch trees. The manorhouse, a handsome mansion of white freestone, erected in the 17th century, is beautifully situated in tastefullyembellished grounds; it is said to have been visited by Cromwell in the summer of 1651, and to have been the hiding-place of Lord Lovat, after his flight from the field of Culloden. The village, which was anciently a market-town, stands in a fertile vale, and consists chiefly of detached cottages with gardens neatly laid out; it is intersected by the river Font, over which a substantial bridge of stone was erected in 1837. Upon the village cross is the date 1698, which is most probably the time when the present village was built. A large cotton manufactory was erected here by the late Walter Trevelyan, Esq., in 1786, but the speculation did not succeed, and the works were soon abandoned. It was subsequently let for a woollen manufactory, which prospered for a few years, but afterwards declined; part of the building is still occupied in the manufacture of flannel, and the spinning of yarn by machinery driven by water. The living, from a remote period, was a stipendiary curacy under the vicar of Hartburn; but on the demise of a late vicar in 1833, it was erected into a separate incumbency, and endowed with £400 from Queen Anne's Bounty, to meet a gift of £70 per annum from the vicar. The church, of which the nave was rebuilt a few years since, is a neat plain structure; in the 14th century it contained a chantry in honour of St. Nicholas, also a chantry dedicated to St. Giles, which was granted by Edward VI. to the school of Morpeth. A parsonage-house was built in 1834.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: 12 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.


 * Morpeth;Rothbury

Parish Records
Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/185 Date: 1766-1880 Related material at DULASC: A transcript for May 1800 to July 1801 survives with the visitation papers for Netherwitton, reference DDR/EV/VIS/5/1801/9/1. Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records however the images for these parish register transcripts have not yet been loaded and await engineering.

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.

Netherwitton, St Giles: Records of baptisms 1696-1893, marriages 1706-1902 and burials 1696-1951 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1696-1812 and marriages 1706-1812 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1706-1812 and banns 1751-1800. Transcripts of baptisms 1696-1719 and 1724-1812, marriages 1706-1812, burials 1696-1706 and 171(?)-1812, and baptisms of dissenters 1769-1778 are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Netherwitton (microfiche TN77) 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

 * Early Wesleyan Methodist chapels in this area belonged to Morpeth W.M. Circuit. Records for 1839-1908 can be seen at Northumberland Collections Service.

FamilySearch Historical Records includes England, Durham Diocese, Marriage Bonds and Allegations (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Poor Law Unions
Morpeth Poor Law Union, Northumberland

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Northumberland 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
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/netherwitton-st-giles/ for information about the parish

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-238367-church-of-st-giles-netherwitton British Listed buildings

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51420 British history online