Tynemouth, Northumberland Genealogy

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

Parish History
TYNEMOUTH (St. Oswin), a parish, a newly-enfranchised borough, and the head of a union, in the E. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 8½ miles (E. N. E.) from Newcastle; comprising the several townships of Chirton, Cullercoates, Monkseaton, Murton, Preston, North Shields, and Whitley; The present parochial church is situated in North Shields. The Wesleyans have a meeting-house; and at Cullercoates and in North Shields are places of worship for various denominations.

Additional information:

The old church in Tynemouth Priory was the original parish church of Tynemouth, but by the seventeenth century this was unusable. It was replaced by Christ Church (consecrated 1668) in the adjoining town of North Shields. This was enlarged in 1792.

For many years Christ Church alone served the needs of a very large and growing population. Around 1840, however, Holy Saviour Church at Tynemouth Priory and Holy Trinity in North Shields were brought into use, and these attained parish status in 1861. In the latter year three more churches, St Paul's, Whitley Bay; St John's, Percy Main; and St Peter's, Tynemouth, further subdivided the ancient parish. In subsequent years several more churches were added, including North Shields, St Augustine, which was consecrated on November 18th 1884, and which has the distinction of being the first to be consecrated in the new Diocese of Newcastle.

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

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections Reference number: DDR/EA/PBT/2/255 Date: 1762-1851 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records. Engineering work will be undertaken in future to improve access to the Parish Register 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.

Tynemouth Parish Church - North Shields, Christ Church: Records of baptisms 1607-1979, marriages 1607-1981 and burials 1607-1979 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Baptisms 1607-1908, marriages 1607-1909, banns 1763-1778, 1815-1824, and burials 1607-1924 can also be seen at Tyne and Wear Archives Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1607-1734 and marriages 1607-1733 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1607-1733. Transcripts of baptisms, burials and marriages 1607-1734 are available in the Local Studies Departments of Newcastle Central Library and Gateshead Central Library. Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. also has a transcript of monument inscriptions.

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

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

Non Conformist Records

 * 1613-1920 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions
Tynemouth Poor Law Union,Northumberland

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