Auckland St Andrew, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
Auckland St Andrew is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Durham. Other places in the parish include: Pollard's Land, Pollard's Lands, South Bedburn, South Church Westerton, Windleston, Windlestone, Barony, Binchester, Bishop Auckland, Bondgate in Auckland, Coundon Grange, Eldon, Helmington, Middlestone, Middridge, Middridge Grange, Midridge, Newfield, Newton Cap, North Bedburn, and Old Park.

AUCKLAND, ST. ANDREW, a parish, in the union of Auckland, partly in the S. E., but chiefly in the N. W., division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham. In the S. E. division are the townships of Byers-Green, Coundon-Grange, Eldon, Middlestone, Midridge, Midridge-Grange, Old-Park, Westerton, and Windleston; while the N. W. division includes the market-town of Bishop-Auckland, the chapelries of St. Helen Auckland and Hamsterley, and the townships of St. Andrew, West Auckland, North and South Bedburn, Barony, Binchester, Coundon, Evenwood, Hunwick with Helmington, Lynesack with Softley, Newfield, Newton-Cap, Pollard's Lands, Shildon, and East Thickley; the whole containing 19,100 inhabitants, of whom 1367 are in the township of St. Andrew, 1 mile (S.) from Bishop-Auckland. This extensive parish comprises by computation 11,195 acres, and contains six considerable villages; it abounds with coal and limestone, and its surface is highly varied. The Stockton and Darlington railroad passes through it; and in 1837 an act was obtained for constructing the Bishop-Auckland and Weardale railway, which branches from the Stockton and Darlington at Shildon, and passes within a quarter of a mile of Bishop-Auckland, which see. The living is a perpetual curacy, with the chapelry of St. Anne; net income, about £550, nearly half of which arises from a bequest by Bishop Barrington; patron, the Bishop of Durham; impropriators, the Landowners of the parish. The tithes attached to the living have been commuted for £46. 10.; and there is a glebe valued at £117 per annum. The church, a spacious cruciform structure, was made collegiate for the secular canons ejected by Bishop Carileph from his cathedral of Durham, in 1082; and in 1292 was endowed by Bishop Beck for a dean and nine prebendaries: three or four additional prebends were founded by Bishop Langley, in 1428. At the Dissolution, the deanery was valued at £100. 7. 2., and the prebends at £79. 16. 8.: the dean's house and some of the prebendal houses have been converted into residences for farmers. There are distinct incumbencies at Byers-Green, Coundon, Escomb, Etherley, Hamsterley, St. Helen's, and Shildon; also places of worship for Independents, Ranters, the Society of Friends, and others. The union comprises 33 parishes and places, and contains a population of 21,979.

From: 'Auckland, St. Andrew - Authorpe', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 112-116. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50770 Date accessed: 25 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 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 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL

The Bishop's Transcripts collection held in the University of Durham Library Archives and Special Collections can be viewed free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

The transcripts with gaps are held under reference DDR/EA/PBT/2/12 are for March 1765 - 1851 and the collection also includes some  transcripts for Escomb (County Durham) May 1795-1803. See separate series of transcripts for Escomb.

Due to the gaps in the Durham Bishop's Transcripts in most parishes in the post 1760 transcript collection it is advisable to search the original parish registers.

Poor Law Unions
Auckland 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.