Hart, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
St Mary Magdalene Hart is an ancient parish and includes Thorpe Bulmer, Throston, West Hartlepool,Dalton Piercy,Nesbit, Nesbit Hall, South Bedburn and Elwick.

HART (St. Mary Magdalene), a parish, in the union of Stockton, N. E. division of Stockton ward, S. division of the county of Durham; comprising the townships of Dalton-Piercy, Elwick, Hart, Nesbit, Thorp-Bulmer, and Throston; and containing 728 inhabitants, of whom 278 are in the township of Hart, 4 miles (W. N. W.) from Hartlepool. This place appears, from the old foundations frequently discovered, to have been formerly of much greater extent and population than at present. The church, which was the mother church of Hartlepool, now a distinct parish, was granted with all its appendages, by Robert de Brus, to the priory of Guisborough; and here was a monastery, of which there are still some slight remains. The parish is situated on the road from Sunderland to Hartlepool, and comprises by computation 10,000 acres, about onefourth of which is pasture, and the rest arable, with the exception of 100 acres of woodland; the soil is for the most part a strong clay, and produces excellent wheat. Magnesian limestone is quarried for building and for repairing the roads, and coal is supposed to abound. The Hartlepool railway passes through the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £11. 17. 1., and in the patronage of the Crown; impropriator, Frederick A. Milbanke, Esq.: the vicarial tithes have been commuted for £163. 15. 6., and the glebe comprises 71 acres. The church is an ancient and venerable structure in the Norman style, with a low massive tower; it contains a singularly elegant font of octagonal form, elaborately enriched with sculpture. In the register are recorded the deaths of 89 victims to the plague in 1587.

From: 'Harrietsham - Hartfield', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 416-421. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51009 Date accessed: 29 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.

Church records
To find the names of the neighboring 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 1577-1979 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Ha).

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/123 1762-1871 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.

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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.