Shincliffe, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
Shincliffe St Mary the Virgin is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Durham, created in 1827 from Durham St Oswald Ancient Parish.

Shincliffe was an outlying part of the large Durham parish of St. Oswald's. A rectory was built in the village in 1800, and a Chapel of Ease in 1826. Shincliffe became a parish in its own right in 1831, however the Parish Church, St. Mary's, was not built until 1851. John Wesley preached in Shincliffe in 1780. A (Wesleyan) Methodist Chapel opened in Shincliffe in 1874.

SHINCLIFFE, a chapelry, in the parish of St. Oswald, union of Durham, S. division of Easington ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 1¾ mile (S. E.) from Durham; containing 1137 inhabitants. This place, anciently called Syneclive, was given under that appellation to the convent of Durham by Bishop Carilepho, in 1085; and nearly the whole vill is at this day held under the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The village is considerable, and lies east of the Wear, sheltered on three sides by the rising grounds that skirt the river-valley, and open on the west to the rich level grounds on the Wear. A bridge existed here so early as the year 1200, and mention occurs of its repair twice in the 14th century; it was rebuilt by Bishop Skirlaw (who raised a noble stone structure of three arches), and was again rebuilt in 1826. The produce of a colliery in Shincliffe is shipped at Sunderland. Here is a station of the York and Newcastle railway. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £98; patrons, the Dean and Chapter: the great tithes have been commuted for £191. 18. 9., and those of the perpetual curate for £4. 9. 7. The chapel was built and endowed in 1826, by the Dean and Chapter; and a burial-ground was consecrated in September same year.

From: 'Shilbottle - Shingham', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 80-82. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51271 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/2/229 dates 1826-1879 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. Engineering work will be undertaken in future to improve access to the Parish Register transcripts. The transcripts can be viewed at present under Rennington Northumberland and will be reloaded in the correct county.

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 1826-1991 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Shi).

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.