Pittington, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
Pittington St Lawrence is an Ancient Parish in the county of Durham. Other places in the parish include: Hall Garth, Hallgarth, Ludworth, and Sherburn.

PITTINGTON (St. Lawrence), a parish, in the S. division of Easington ward, union, and N. division of the county, of Durham, 3½ miles (E. N. E.) from Durham; containing, with the townships of Shadforth and Sherburn, 4577 inhabitants, of whom 2295 are in Pittington township. This parish, also called PittingtonHallgarth, from the church being situated at the hamlet of Hallgarth, comprises by computation 6330 acres, of which about 2750 are in the township. There are several coal-mines, and the produce of them is abundant: the Belmont colliery, near the turnpike-road leading from Durham to Sunderland, yields coal of excellent quality, which is shipped at Sunderland for the London market. Limestone also abounds. A railroad, eight miles long, extends from the Hallgarth colliery to the river Wear at Painshaw. The village is about half a mile to the north of Hallgarth. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £14. 14. 2.; net income, £469; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The church is an ancient structure, principally in the Norman style, and had formerly two chantries, in honour of St. Mary and St. Katherine: in the churchyard, among other memorials, are, the effigy of a cross legged knight, and a coffinshaped stone with a Saxon inscription. At Shadforth is a separate incumbency.

From: 'Pisford - Playford', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 573-576. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51215 Date accessed: 21 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.

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/206 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 1574-1957 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Pi).

Poor Law Unions
Durham 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.