Hurworth, Durham Genealogy

England Durham



Parish History
Hurworth on Tees is an ancient parish on the River Tees with nearby Neasham. All Saints church was restored in 1871 to retain many of the Norman features.

HURWORTH (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Darlington, S. W. division of Darlington ward, S. division of the county of Durham; consisting of the townships of Hurworth and Neasham, and containing 1599 inhabitants, of whom 1235 are in the township of Hurworth, 3 miles (S. S. E.) from Darlington. The parish is bounded on the south by the river Tees, which separates it from Yorkshire; and comprises 3930a. 3r. 18p., whereof two-thirds are arable, and the remainder meadow, pasture, and woodland. Its soil, from the river side, for three-quarters of a mile, is a fine gravelly loam, but in other places a cold clay: the river flows over a bed of red sandstone, which, in some parts of the channel, when dry, is quarried. The weaving of linencloth is carried on to some extent. The village is inhabited by a number of genteel families, and consists principally of a spacious well-built street, beautifully placed on the brow of a hill at the foot of which flows the Tees, and commanding a fine view of the windings of that river through the vale of the Tees, and of the Cleveland bills, distant fifteen miles, which form a soft outline to the scenery. The York and Newcastle railway runs through the parish for one mile and a half, crossing the Tees by a magnificent stone viaduct of four oblique arches; the Croft station is three-quarters of a mile from Hurworth. The Croft or Hurworth branch of the Stockton and Darlington railway also runs for about one mile through the parish, nearly parallel, at a hundred yards' distance, with the York and Newcastle line, and terminates at Hurworth Place, a village recently populated, where is a depôt for coal and lead. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £27. 5. 5., and in the gift of the Rev. Robert Hopper Williamson, who is also incumbent; the tithes have been commuted for £550, and the glebe comprises 68 acres. The church, a cruciform structure with a square tower, was enlarged in 1832, at an expense of £1965, raised by subscription and the sale of pews, aided by a grant of £400 from the Incorporated Society; of 850 sittings, 406 are free. There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans; and some schools aided by an endowment of £22 per annum. Skeletons are frequently dug up in the western end of the village. William Emmerson, the self-taught mathematician, who died in 1782, was born and resided here.

From: 'Hurley - Hutton-Bonville', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 591-594. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51056 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.

The Parish Registers for the period 1559-1986 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Hur)

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/146/2 1787-1885 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. The current mis-spelling of the parish is awaiting re-engineering.

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.

Poor Law Unions
Darlington 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.