Bedlington, Northumberland Genealogy

= Parish History =

St Cuthbert's Church Bedlington is an ancient parish and was consecrated about 900, and it is thought that the body of St Cuthbert rested here on December 12th 1069, during the wanderings which culminated in his interment at Durham. Some Norman and Saxon traces remain but the church was remodelled in the eighteenth century and there was much rebuilding in the nineteenth. It is located on Church Lane, Bedlington.

The parish of St Paul Choppington was created to serve the colliery at Choppington:

A small unpretentious 'colliery church', it was built to serve the growing mining village of Choppington. Architecturally it is simple and uncluttered, set in a spacious churchyard containing some fine beech trees. The processional cross is in memory of those who lost their lives in the two Choppington pits - both closed in the early 1960s. The brass altar cross is of unusual design and of particularly fine workmanship. Once a colliery church, St Paul's now serves a parish of several large housing estates. [The Newcastle Diocesan Gazetteer (1982), page 19.]

= Parish Records =

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/19 1760-1858 for BedlingtonParish Register transcripts are available to search free online at Record Search. The Choppington transcripts are at DDR/EA/PBT/2/55 for 1869-1871. The Bedlington transcripts have yet been loaded on Record search 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.

Bedlington, St Cuthbert: Records of baptisms 1653-1950, marriages 1653-1955 and burials 1653-1937 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1643-1812 and marriages 1653-1812 for this parish, Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1653-1812 and banns 1751-1777. Transcripts of baptisms, burials and marriages 1653-1812 are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Bedlington (microfiche TN72) 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.

Choppington, St Paul: Records of baptisms 1866-1992, marriages 1866-1993 and burials 1866-1979 are available at Northumberland Collections Service.