Wallsend, Northumberland Genealogy

= Parish History =

The Church of the Holy Cross dates back to 1145AD and was built by the monks from Jarrow Priory using Roman stone taken from the nearby Hadrian's Wall. The church was used for public worship until 1798 after which time it became derelict, the stone foundations and grave were restored and a steel railing erected in 1909 to protect the site.

A local legend recorded associated with the church and witchcraft and the Delaval family tells of a family member of the Delaval family returning from Newcastle one night when he saw the church was lit up. Leaving his servant with the horses he went to investigate. He found a group of old women engaged in the dissection of a corpse. They were putting parts of the dead woman into a cauldron suspended from the bell rope. As he ran to disperse them the managed to capture one witch. She was taken back to Seaton Delaval and tried before being sentenced to death by burning on Seaton Sands. On her way to her execution she begged for two new wooden platters which were then brought. As the fire was lit she placed her feet on the platters and muttered a spell. Immediately she rose high into the air above the beach. One of the platters however had been washed in running water and her foot slipped off and she fell to the ground. The crowd did not give her a second chance, and they ran to throw her back on the fire.

St Peter's was built in 1807-09 to replace on a new site, the medieval church of Holy Cross ( the ruins of which can still be seen - a twelfth century church with a seventeenth - century porch). In 1892 the church was redesigned in a Gothic style by W.S.Hicks:the interior was gutted, a new roof and windows installed and the spire removed. The church is renowned for the collection of twentieth - century Irish glass.

= Parish Records =

Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/259 1769-1871 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at Record Search.Record Search is undertaking engineering work to correct the present location of images due the insertion into the collection of parish records in the original image assembly for Sunderland Holy Trinity parish Durham. The online images for Wallsend can be located at image 119 of 1412 in the Sunderland images and begin with the year January 1813(DDR/EA/PBT/2/259/112). The sequence then continues until image 695 of 1412 which shows burial register for 1833 (DDR/EA/PBT/2/259/715).

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.

Wallsend, Holy Cross/St Peter: Records of baptisms 1669-1958, marriages 1669-1981 and burials 1672-1921 are available at Northumberland Collections Service. Baptisms 1669-1958, marriages 1669-1970, banns 1754-1902, 1927-1941, and burials 1672-1921 can also be seen at Tyne and Wear Archives Service. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) includes baptisms 1669-1812 and marriages 1669-1812 for this parish, and Boyd's Marriage Index includes marriages 1669-1812 and banns 1751. Transcripts of baptisms 1669-1812, marriages 1669-1837, burials 1672-1812 and banns 1760-1782 are available at Newcastle Central Library, Local Studies Dept. A transcript of monumental inscriptions at Wallsend (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.