Barnard Castle, Durham Genealogy

Guide to Barnard Castle, Durham family history and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
BARNARD-CASTLE, a market-town and chapelry, in the parish of Gainford, union of Teesdale, SW division of Darlington ward, S division of the county of Durham, 25 miles SW by W from Durham, and 244 NNW from London. There are places of worship for Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans.

Additional information: Barnard Castle St Mary was created in 1723 from a 12th century chapelry in Gainford Ancient Parish.

The medieval history of the town is dominated by the castle and the Balliol family who owned it. The castle was built in the late 11th century. When the castle was built it outer defenses may have surrounded the small church of St Margaret, which was probably the parish church. A new parish church, dedicated to St Mary was built outside the walls. The Church of St Mary is believed to have been built in the twelfth century. It was a chapelry. It was not the only religious establishment in the town. In around 1230 a small hospital was founded on Newgate Street. It had its own chapel.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
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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
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Durham ($)
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Durham ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records

Poor Law Unions
Teesdale 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

Websites
Barnard Castle on GENUKI