Whitworth, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
Whitworth is an ancient parish and the church was founded by the Lord of Whitworth. The church was rebuilt in 1803 and 1850 and had further improvement in 1889 and 1892. Other places in the parish include: Spennymoor, Tudhoe, and Tudoe.

WHITWORTH, a parochial chapelry, partly in the union of Auckland, and partly in that of Durham, S. E. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing, with the township of Tudhoe, 617 inhabitants, of whom 290 are in Whitworth township, 4 miles (N. E. by N.) from Bishop-Auckland. According to the Boldon book, this manor was held by Thomas de Acley, by the service of a quarter of a knight's fee; it was afterwards possessed by the Whytworths and the Nevills, and subsequently by the Shafto family. The chapelry comprises about 3250 acres: the village is pleasantly situated about three-quarters of a mile south of the river Wear. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, the appropriators; net income, £243. The incumbent's tithes have been commuted for £179, and the glebe consists of 24 acres. The chapel was originally subject to the vicarage of Merrington: in the cemetery, among other ancient memorials, are a monument of a knight in armour, and the effigies of two females.

From: 'Whitton - Whorlton', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 561-564. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51402 Date accessed: 25 March 2011.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Whitworth like this:

WHITWORTH, a parish in Auckland district, Durham; around Spennymoor r. station, and 4 miles NE by N of Bishop-Auckland. It contains Spennymoor, which has a post-office under Ferryhill. Acres, 1,465. Real property, £7,402; of which £5,219 are in mines, and £50 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 659; in 1861, 3,629. Houses, 636. W. Park is the seat of R. Duncombe, Esq. Old Park belonged once to the Bishops of Durham; became the residence of Dr. Wharton; was frequently visited, in his time, by the poet Gray; passed to the Myddleton family; and was recently sold to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £340.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of D. The church was restored in 1850. A chapel of ease and three dissenting chapels are at Spennymoor.

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.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/272 1765-1873 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.

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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1569-1958 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Whi).

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.