Birtley, Durham Genealogy

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

Parish History
BIRTLEY, a township, in the parish and union of Chester-le-Street, Middle division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; also a Roman Catholic chapel. Birtley St. John the Evangelist was created in 1850 from Chester-le-Street St. Mary and St. Cuthbert.

Additional information:

Parts of this parish became part of these parishes: Fatfield St. George (1875); Washington, Oxclose Local Ecumenical Partnership (1972)

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
Birtley 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

 * Primitive Methodist
 * Roman Catholic
 * Wesleyan Methodist

Poor Law Unions
Chester le Street 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
Birtley township (see Chester-le-Street parish) on GENUKI