All Saints, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland Genealogy

England Northumberland  Northumberland Parishes



Parish History
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, a borough, port, and market-town, a county of itself, and the head of a union, on the northern bank of the river Tyne (10½ miles from its mouth), locally in Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 276 miles (N. N. W.) from London, and 117 (S. E.) from Edinburgh. 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.

The living of All Saints' is a perpetual curacy; net income, £333; patron, the Vicar of Newcastle. The church, situated on the summit of an eminence rising abruptly from the river, was founded prior to 1286, rebuilt in 1786, and consecrated on the 17th November, 1789, by the Bishop of Durham. It is a handsome structure in the Roman style, with a lofty tower surmounted by a light and elegant spire; the entrance is by a stately portico of four columns of the Doric order, supporting a pediment. In the vestry of the church, to which it was removed for greater security by the present incumbent, is a splendid monumental brass to the memory of Roger Thornton and Agnes his wife, of the date 1411, in excellent preservation. In the register, which commences in 1600, are the baptismal entries of William, Lord Stowell, in 1745, and his brother, John, Lord Chancellor Eldon, in 1751. A church district, called Byker, was formed out of All Saints' in 1844, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The living of St. John the Baptist's is a perpetual curacy; net income, £244; patron, the Vicar of Newcastle. The church, founded prior to 1286, is a spacious cruciform structure in the early English style, with a square embattled tower and angular turrets; it contains several old monuments and an ancient font, and in the churchyard are the remains of John Cunningham, the pastoral poet, who died in 1773.

From: 'Newbottle - Newcastle-upon-Tyne', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 379-389. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51171 Date accessed: 19 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.

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 FamilySearch Historical Records. Engineering work will be undertaken in future to improve access to the Parish Register transcripts. The digital images provided to Family Search are unavailable for 1845-1856 for this parish and await reloading.

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.

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

Poor Law Unions
Newcastle Upon Tyne 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
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