Norton, Durham Genealogy

England Durham

Parish History
St Mary Norton is an ancient parish and from within it in 1237 grew the parishes of Stockton-on-Tees.

"The Church - This ancient and venerable edifice, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, stands on a slight elevation near the village to the north. It is a cruciform structure, consisting of nave, transept - from the intersection of which springs the central tower - aisles, and chancel. The parts of the original building still remaining are said to belong to pre-Conquest or Saxon times, and the date of their erection is uncertain. These are the north and part of the south transepts, and the tower; but the massive piers and semicircular arches by which the latter is supported seem strongly to indicate an early Norman origin. The nave as it now stands was built during the Norman Transitional period, which prevailed from 1145 to 1190.

"The church has passed through many periods of restoration, the principal one being in the year 1876, carried out with questionable taste in the Tudor Gothic style. All the stained glass in the church is of modern date and of more than average excellence; the windows in the south wall of the chancel, representing incidents in the life of Bernard Gilpin, vicar of Norton, 1554, are of especial interest and value. Norton is the mother-church of the adjacent town of Stockton-on-Tees, and in 1237, when a chapel was erected at Stockton, the parishioners were permitted to have therein baptism, burial and all other ecclesiastical rights, but were still required to visit the mother-church at Norton on the feast of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin (the 15th of August) bringing with them their offerings."

[From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan, London, 1894]

NORTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Stockton, S. W. division of Stockton ward, S. division of the county of Durham, 2 miles (N.) from Stockton; containing 1628 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 4000 acres of land, in its general aspect level. The soil immediately surrounding the village is of a light but rich loamy nature, and well adapted for market-gardens, for which this place is celebrated, while to the north and west is a strong red clay, producing in favourable seasons excellent wheat: the substrata are beds of sand and gravel. The portion of woodland is very small, and the scenery presents little of a striking character, but embraces in the distance fine views of the Cleveland hills. There are some brick and tile manufactories, a glue factory, and a tannery. The road from Stockton to Durham used to run through the village, but was diverted a mile to the west about 1830; the main line of the Clarence railway passes on the north, and the Stockton branch diverges from it at the tollgate, in its course to the river Tees. By an act of the 12th of Queen Anne, the townships of Stockton, East Hartburn, and Preston were separated from this parish, and formed into the parish of Stockton. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £31. 11. 5½.; patron, the Bishop of Durham; impropriators, William Wharton, Esq., of Durham, and others. The rectorial tithes have been commuted for £271, the vicarial for £80; and there are about 260 acres of glebe valued at £289, exclusively of the vicarage-house and gardens valued at £40. The church which was collegiate, and from 1227 till the Dissolution had eight prebendaries, stands upon elevated ground, and is partly Norman, and partly in the early English style, bearing traces of its antiquity and former importance, particularly in its square central tower springing from four circular arches. The south transept was called Pettie (or little) porch, and by some was named Pity porch, from an altar of the Virgin Mary; in Blakiston porch, which forms the north transept, was a well-carved recumbent figure in armour, now removed to the south side of the communion-table, and supposed to be a memorial of the Blakiston family. The edifice was repaired, and two galleries were added, in 1826. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and the Society of Friends. Norton enjoys the privilege, with Stockton, of one of the scholarships founded in the university of Oxford, in 1536, by John Claymond, vicar of the parish, and first president of Corpus Christi College. A free grammar school, which has an income of £40 a year, appears to have existed since the year 1600. Bernard Gilpin, "the Apostle of the North," was instituted to the vicarage on his return from the continent, in 1552. Jeremiah Moore, who had in early life been made a slave to the Turks by the cruelty of his brother, and who was subsequently distinguished for his philanthropy and benevolence; Christopher Middleton, the first navigator employed by the lords of the admiralty to discover a North-West passage; Admiral Policarpus Taylor, eminent for his naval services; and the Rev. John Wallis, author of the History of Northumberland, all died here.

From: 'Norton - Norton-Bavant', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 439-441. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51185 Date accessed: 27 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/2/198 1762-1846 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. The transcript collection also includes DDR/EA/PBT/2/199 Burial Ground register transcripts Norton Friends 1865-1893

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 1574-1989 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Nor).

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.