Brancepeth Durham Family History Guide

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Brancepeth is an Ancient Parish in the county of Durham.

Other places in the parish include: Brandon and Byshottles, Hemlington Row, Helmington Row, Hedleyhope, Hedley Hope, Page Bank, Brancepeth Common, Willington, Tudhoe, and Stockley.

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1599
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1762

Nonconformists include: Methodist New Connexion, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Brancepeth Parish Registers

Baptism Records

Brancepeth Baptisms 1813-1839

Waterhouses Baptisms 1879-1915

Marriage and Banns Records

Brancepeth Marriages 1599-1977

Death and Burial Records

Brancepeth Burials 1713-1812

Brancepeth, St. Brandon Burials 1599-1713

Bishops Transcripts

Explore the Bishops’ Transcripts for the Diocese of Durham (1639–1919) – This collection offers parish register copies submitted annually to the Bishop, covering baptisms, marriages, and burials across Durham, Northumberland, and parts of Yorkshire and Cumberland. Ideal for tracing ancestors when original registers are missing or incomplete.

Brancepeth Bishops Transcripts 1843-1848

Marriage Licences and Allegations

London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869

The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.

Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.

Belasyse, William, of Brancepeth Castle, co. Durham, esq., bachelor, upwards of 21, and Bridget Billingsley, of St. James, Westminster, spinster, 18, her parents dead, with consent of James Eckersall, of St. James aforesaid, her guardian – at the Chapel Royal at St. James. 16 Aug. 1732.  F.

Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BRANCEPETH, a township in Durham district, and a parish in Durham and Auckland districts, Durham. The township lies on the river Wear and on the Durham and Bishop-Auckland railway, 4 miles SW of Durham; and has a station on the railway, and a post-office under Durham. Acres, 4,515. Real property, £7,180; of which £3,597 are in mines. Pop., 1,496. Houses, 266.

The parish contains also the townships of Stockley, Willington, Brandon and Byshottles, Tudhoe, Hedley-Hope, Hemlington-Row, and Crook and Billy Row. Acres, 22,525. Real property, with Cornsay township, £75,151; of which £42,784 are in mines. Pop., 15,712. Houses, 2,893. The property is not much divided.

Brancepeth Castle was erected, in the reign of Stephen, by the family of Bulmer; passed to the Nevills and the Russells; and belongs now, in right of his wife, to Viscount Boyne. It was rebuilt in 1821; but retains much of its prior appearance; and is a massive and splendid edifice. A suite of rich armour, said to have been taken from David Bruce of Scotland at Nevill’s Cross, is in the entrance hall; and a fine collection of antiquities and paintings is in the rooms. The grounds and the adjacent country are picturesque. Coal beds and sulphur springs occur; and coal and stone are worked.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £811. Patron, R. E. D. Shafto, Esq. The church is ancient and cruciform; has an early English tower and later English chancel and clerestory; and contains ancient stall-work and chancel-screen, an ancient carved chest, and a fine canopied font. The rectories of Willington and Crook, and the vicarage of Tudhoe, are separate benefices. There are three dissenting chapels, a R. Catholic Gothic one, and charities £42.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Crime & Punishment

The following people from Brancepeth have been found in the records of the early 1900s of Criminals arrested at North Shields in Tynemouth Northumberland. The link will take you to the page on this site that lists details of their crimes and you can see what they looked like.

Sarah Cuthill, of 21 Post Office Row, East Hedley Hope, arrested for stealing clothes

View All People from the Collection Criminal Faces of North Shields

Administration

  • County: Durham
  • Civil Registration District: Durham
  • Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Durham (Episcopal Consistory)
  • Diocese: Durham
  • Rural Deanery: Darlington
  • Poor Law Union: Durham
  • Hundred: Durham Ward
  • Province: York