Long Benton, Northumberland Genealogy

Parish History
The church of St. Bartholomew Long Benton probably occupies the site of a former church recorded in 1130 and built earlier. Restoration work on the church in 1791 discovered evidence of an earlier building.Further building work was undertaken in 1838, and in 1855 the chancel was rebuilt in the Perpendicular style and the whole structure new roofed, a stained east window being given at the same time by Dr. Thomas Addison, of Spring Gardens, London, as a memorial to his parents: in 1873-75, the church was restored and enlarged.

The parish is an ancient parish.

BENTON, LONG (St. Bartholomew), a parish, in the union of Tynemouth, E. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 3½ miles (N. E. by N.) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; containing 8711 inhabitants, of whom 2451 are in the township of Long Benton. This parish is bounded on the south by the river Tyne, and intersected from east to west by the North Shields and Newcastle railway, and turnpike-road; it extends eight miles and a half from north to south, and at the widest point is about three in breadth. The whole comprises, with the townships of Weetsleet, Killingworth, Little Benton, and Walker, 8869a. 2r. 7p. The township of Long Benton, occupying about the middle of the parish, consists of 3301a. 35p., of which 85 acres are common or waste. On the banks of the river are various large manufactories, and staiths for shipping coal; and the district contains many extensive collieries, which are now nearly exhausted as respects coal for domestic purposes, though much remains applicable to steam-furnaces: in Weetsleet and Walker townships are some freestone-quarries. The village of Long Benton, consisting for the most part of one long street, is built upon a rock, in a pleasant and healthy situation. The living, a discharged vicarage valued in the king's books at £3. 1. 3., is in the gift of Balliol College, Oxford, in whose favour an impropriation was made, on the grant of Sir Philip Somervyle, in 1342. The corn and hay tithes have been commuted for about £1500, of which £687. 11. are derived from the township of Long Benton, and the vicarial tithes for £120, of which £52 are for the township; the glebe consists of about 80 acres. The church, which stands in a spacious burial-ground, a short distance north of the village, was rebuilt, with the exception of the chancel, in 1791. At Walker is a separate incumbency. There are several places of worship for dissenters. The Roman wall of Severus passed through the parish before its immediate termination at Wallsend: on the line of this wall was an ancient chapel, and another chapel is traditionally spoken of as having stood near Low Weetsleet; both have long since disappeared. Among the eminent persons connected with the place, may be named the celebrated Dr. Charles Hutton, and George Stephenson, the railway engineer, the former of whom, when a boy, worked in the pits at Long Benton colliery, and the latter was a brakesman at Killingworth colliery.From: 'Bentham - Berkeley', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 210-214. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50793 Date accessed: 08 March 2011.

= Parish Records =

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/167 1762-1872 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at Record Search. Record Search is engineering additional image loading; at present the images available are only to 1830.

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.

Longbenton, St Bartholomew: Records of baptisms 1670-1949, marriages 1653-1963 and burials 1669-1926 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Baptisms 1670-1915, marriages 1667-1910, banns 1754-1966 and burials 1669-1926 are also available at Tyne and Wear Archives Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1670-1812 and marriages 1653-1812 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1653-1812. Transcripts of baptisms 1670-1721, 1723-1812, marriages 1653-1721, 1724-1812 and burials 1669-1721, 1723-1812 for Longbenton are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. Tyne and Wear Archives Service have an index of marriages for 1653-1837. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Longbenton and the Convent of the Good Shepherd (microfiche TN85) is published by Northumberland and Durham Family History Society and these records are also available in book form at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Department.