Whitburn, Durham Genealogy

England Durham  Durham Parishes

Parish History
WHITBURN, a parish, in the union of South Shields, E. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 3½ miles (N.) from Sunderland; containing, with the township of Cleadon, and part of North Bidick. '''

Whitburn is an ancient parish and the church dates from the early part of the thirteenth century.

A Chapel of Ease was built at Cleadon within the parish in 1869.

From: 'Whitacre, Nether - Whitechapel', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 543-551. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51398 Date accessed: 24 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 1579-1936 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Whit).

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

Poor Law Unions
South Shields 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