All Saints, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland Genealogy

= Parish History =

The Parish of All Saints consisted of the townships of All Saints, Byker and Heaton. The first of these was part of the city and county of Newcastle, and all of these areas are now within the City of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

All Saints or All Hallows Church was probably built in the twelfth century and was replaced in 1796 by the present building; although many at the time believed that the old building should have been restored. The old building is said to have been built on the site of a Roman Pantheon, and so may have older religious associations than any church in the city. The 1796 church is a rare British example of an elliptical church in the Renaissance style. The church was deconsecrated in 1961, and in the 1980s it was incorporated into an office complex.

St Ann's, City Road was built in 1768 and replaced a medieval chapel on the same site. The church was mostly built with stone from the City Wall. It was originally a chapel of ease to All Saints but was licensed as a district church in 1842. Many of the victims of Newcastle's last great cholera epidemic of 1853 are buried in the churchyard.

In the second half of the nineteenth century the parish was split up with the building of Christ Church on Shieldfield Green (1861); St Michael's on Headlam Street, Byker (1862); St Anthony's, also in Byker (1868); and St Cuthbert, Shieldfield in 1879. Christ Church was itself divided when St Jude was built in 1884.

The expansion of Byker and Heaton resulted in the subdivision of St Michael's and the building of several more churches between 1886 and 1933.

= Parish Records =

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/188 1762-1868 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at Record Search.

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.

Newcastle, All Saints: Records of baptisms 1600-1963, marriages 1600-1955 and burials 1600-1861 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Records of baptisms and marriages for the same periods and burials 1600-1853 can be seen at Tyne and Wear Archives Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1600-1874 (with gaps) and marriages 1600-1812 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1600-1812 and banns 1751-1775. Transcripts of baptisms, burials and marriages 1600-1830 and of monumental inscriptions for Newcastle, All Saints are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept., and Gateshead Central Library, Local Studies Dept. have a transcript covering baptisms 1600-1803.