Whitley (near North Shields), Northumberland Genealogy

Parish History
Whitley was a chapelry in the Ancient Parish of Tynemouth, Northumberland St Paul's Whitley Bay was dedicated in 1864.

WHITLEY, a township, in the parish and union of Tynemouth, E. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 3 miles (N.) from North Shields; containing 749 inhabitants. The township comprises 515 acres of arable land; the soil is a good loam, and the subsoil clay. Coal, of an inferior quality for household purposes, but excellent for the use of steam-engines, is wrought here, though now nearly exhausted; and a considerable quantity, wrought in the adjoining township of Monkseaton, is raised from a pit near the village, and conveyed by a tramway to the lower part of Shields, whence it is exported. Ironstone abounds in the neighbourhood; and limestone is extensively burned, the produce of a quarry here, interesting to the geologist as forming the northernmost point of the magnesian limestone stratum which extends from Shields to near Nottingham. In the lower beds of the formation is contained an abundance of fossil fish, but as the quarry is not worked deep, the specimens are not often exposed. The limestone appears to have been entirely covered by a bed of sulphate of barytes, varying in thickness from a few inches to 27 feet. There are two places of worship for Methodists. The impropriate tithes of part of the township have been commuted for £124.From: 'Whitley - Whittering', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 555-557. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51400 Date accessed: 09 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.

Parish Records
Whitley Bay, St Paul: Records of baptisms 1861-1975, marriages 1864-1989 and burials 1864-1962 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Baptisms 1861-1952, marriages 1864-1969, banns 1948-1964, burials 1864-1926 and a transcript of monumental inscriptions can also be seen at Tyne and Wear Archives Service. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Whitley Bay, St Paul (microfiche TN94) is published by Northumberland and Durham Family History Society. For earlier records see Tynemouth, Northumberland Parish Church.

FamilySearch Historical Records includes England, Durham Diocese, Marriage Bonds and Allegations (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Poor Law Unions
Tynemouth Poor Law Union,Northumberland

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Northumberland 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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