Grindon, Durham Genealogy

England Durham   Durham Parishes



Parish History
Grindon is an ancient parish but the present church dedicated to St James was built in 1886, There were two former churches in the parish. The former church of St Thomas a Becket appear on the OS map; the newer parish church of St James is near to Thorpe Thewles.

For genealogical purposes, it is important to note that-- "GRINDON (St. Thomas à Becket), [was an ancient] parish, in the union of Stockton, N. E. division of Stockton ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing, with Whitton township, 337 inhabitants, of whom 285 are in the township of Grindon, or Thorpe, 5½ miles (N. N. W.) from Stockton, and 15 (S. S. E.) from Durham.

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 1565-1938 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Gr).

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/ 2/118 1762-1835 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.

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

Poor Law Unions
Stockton 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.