Durham St Nicholas, Durham Genealogy

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

Parish History
DURHAM, a city, the capital of the county of Durham, and the head of a union, 67 miles (E. S. E.) from Carlisle, 87 (N. E.) from Lancaster, 67 (N. W. by W.) from York. The city is surmounted by the cathedral and the remains of the ancient castle, together with other ecclesiastical residences. The college was established at the same time as the university. The city comprises several parishes: St. Giles (1584), St. Mary Le Bow (1571), St. Mary-the-less (1560), St. Nicholas' (1540), St. Oswald's (1538), St. Margaret's (1557), as well as The (Durham) Cathedral (1609). The parish of Durham St Oswald's also includes the village and chapelry of Shincliffe (1826) and part of the chapelry of Croxdale (1696) [see also Merrington Parish]. The chapelries of Belmont and St Cuthbert were built respectively in the years 1858 and 1863 both of which also stood within the boundary of Durham ancient parish. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics.

The former church of St. Nicholas was an ancient structure, situated on the north side of the market-place, and consisted of a nave and aisles, with chancel and square tower.

Additional information: St. Nicholas', containing 2757 inhabitants, is a perpetual curacy; net income, £87; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Londonderry. The church is of considerable antiquity; it was repaired in 1768.

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
Durham St Nicholas parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Records are also available at the Durham County Record Office.

Non Conformist Churches

 * Independent/Congregational
 * Primitive Methodist
 * Society of Friends/Quaker

he following non-Church of England denominations were located somewhere in Durham, but the exact parish has not been identified:


 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Presbyterian

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

Websites
Durham St Nicholas on GENUKI