Alston, Cumberland Genealogy

Guide to Alston, Cumberland ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
ALSTON, or Alston-Moor (St. Augustine), a market-town and parish, forming a union of itself, in Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 29 miles (E. S. E.) from Carlisle, and 287 (N. N. W.) from London; comprising the township of Alston, and the chapelry of Garrigill, [and the chapelry of Nenthead] the former containing 4588,...1474 and about 500, respectively. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans The surviving parish registers commence from 1701.

Church Records
Parish registers of Alston, 1700-1960 at the FHL

Parish registers for Garrigill, 1706-1959 at the FHL

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

Garrigill, Cumberland chapelry registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/111 March 1760-1840 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at Record Search. For some Garrigill transcripts February 1784-Sept 1840 it is necessary to view the Alston transcripts. 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 Alston transcripts can be found at DDR/EA/PBT/2/8 March 1762-1840 and include the Garrigill transcripts February 1784-March 1840 see also the seperate transcripts for Garrigill referred to above.

In addition the transcripts for the Alston and Haltwhistle Friends Burial Ground register transcripts are held at DDR/EA/PBT/2/9 for 1873-1884 and include Allendale, Alston, Edmundbyers and Haltwhistle Friends.

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 * Independent/Congregational
 * Protestant Dissenters
 * Society of Friends/Quaker
 * Wesleyan Methodist
 * Primitive Methodists

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.

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Cumberland 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
Alston on GENUKI

Garrigill on GENUKI