Collierley Durham Family History Guide
Collierley is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Durham, created in 1843 from a chapelry in Lanchester Ancient Parish.
Other places in the parish include: Annfield Plain, Dipton, Kyo, Pontop, and Billingside.
Alternative names: Collierley and Pontop
Parish church: St. Thomas
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1841
- Bishop’s Transcripts: None
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Tanfield
- Witton Gilbert with Kimblesworth
- Stanhope
- Muggleswick
- Lanchester
- Ebchester
- Benfieldside
- Chester le Street
- Medomsley
Collierley Parish Registers
Baptism Records
Death and Burial Records
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.
Collierley Bishops Transcripts 1843-1846
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
COLLIERLEY, a township and a chapelry in Lanchester parish, Durham. The township lies on an affluent of the river Derwent, adjacent to the Stanhope and Tyne railway, 6 miles NNE of Cold-Rowley r. station, and 9 SW of Gateshead; and it includes Dipton and Pontop, the former of which has a post-office under Gateshead. Acres, 1,855. Real property, £3, 286; of which £1, 300 are in mines. Pop., 1, 322. Houses, 265.
The chapelry was constituted in 1842; and is more extensive than the township. Rated property, £6, 565. Pop., 3, 223. Houses, 642. The property is subdivided. Coal is worked. The surface rises, at Pontop-Pike, to the altitude of 1, 018 feet. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £300. Patron, the Bishop of Manchester. The church is good.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
COLLIERLY, a township, in the parish and union of Lanchester, W. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 10½ miles (S. W.) from Gateshead; containing, with the villages of Dipton and Pontop, 853 inhabitants.
About sixty years ago this township was nearly all waste and uninclosed land, and very thinly inhabited; but by the recommencement of coal-mining (formerly carried on to a considerable extent, and employing numerous people), and the formation of a railway, it has acquired its present importance and increased population.
The township comprises by computation 1700 acres, of which about 500, mostly arable, are the property of the Marquess of Bute; the soil is chiefly clay, and, though cold and inferior, produces good oats. The surface is generally elevated; Pontop Pyke is the highest ground in the district, being upwards of 1000 feet above the level of the sea.
The Pontop Pyke colliery was first opened in the year 1743, and the working of it was renewed in 1834 by the Stanhope and Tyne Railway Company: the railway passes through the district, and conveys the coal to the shipping at Shields.
The townships of Collierly, Kyo (containing the populous village of Annfield), Billingside, and part of Greencroft, were formed, in 1842, into a district parish for ecclesiastical purposes, with a population of 2000.
A church dedicated to St. Thomas had been consecrated in 1841; it is a neat structure in the early English style, with a campanile tower and lancet windows, and contains 300 sittings, of which 250 are free. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £150; patron, the Bishop of Durham.
There are places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Historical Directories
Kelly’s Directory of the Leather Trades 1880
ANNFIELD PLAIN
Boot & Shoe Makers
Gibson Charles
Gibson William
Hetherington William
COLLIERLEY
Boot & Shoe Makers
Ramsey Anthony
Ramsey John
Saddler & Harness Maker
Teasdale John
Maps
Vision of Britain Historical Maps – includes topographic maps, boundary maps and land use maps
Administration
- County: Durham
- Civil Registration District: Durham
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Durham (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Durham
- Rural Deanery: Chester le Street
- Poor Law Union: Lanchester
- Hundred: Chester Ward
- Province: York