Jarrow Durham Family History Guide

Jarrow is an Ancient Parish in the county of Durham.

Other places in the parish include: Hedworth, Hedworth, Monkton and Jarrow, Monkton, and Hebburn.

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1572
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1765

Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Methodist New Connexion, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Jarrow Parish Registers

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.

Jarrow Bishops Transcripts 1816-1830

Jarrow Bishops Transcripts 1830-1860

Jarrow with Heworth Bishops Transcripts 1765-1816

Jarrow with Heworth St Alban Bishops Transcripts 1844-1879

Jarrow with Heworth St Mary Bishops Transcripts 1768-1875

Felling Bishops Transcripts 1866-1869

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

JARROW, a town and a township in South Shields district, and a parish partly also in Gateshead district, Durham. The town stands on the river Tyne, at the terminus of a short branch of the Northeastern railway, 2 miles SW by W of South Shields. It takes its name from the Saxon word “gyrwy,” which signifies “a marsh,” and alludes to a neighbouring bay, called the Slake.

This bay is on the NE; measures about 1 mile from E to W, and about 7½ a mile from N to S; was so important in the Saxon times as to be the chief port of Egfrid, king of Northumbria, and the anchoring place of his fleet; extended then as far inland as Boldon; but has now become so choked with sand and mud as to be dry at ebb tide, and useless as a harbour.

A Roman station once occupied the site of the town, and is proved to have done so by several inscribed altars which have been found here. A monastery was founded in 680, on the deserted station, by Benedict Biscop; was plundered by the Danes in 788, and burned by them in 867; underwent subsequent restoration; was burned again by William the Lion of Scotland; underwent a second restoration, in 1074, by Earl Waltheof and some monks from Mercia; and, in 1083, was made a dependent cell of Durham.

The Venerable Bede entered the monastery as a student in 684; resided here till his death in 735; wrote and left here those works which have made his name so famous; and was buried in the church. Wordsworth exclaims, respecting him, –

Oh Venerable Bede !
The saint, the scholar, from a circle freed
Of toil stupendous, in a hallowed seat
Of learning, where thou heard’st the billows beat
On a wild coast, rough monitors to feed
Perpetual industry. Sublime recluse !
The recreant soul, that dares to shun the debt
Imposed on human kind, must first forget
Thy diligence, thy unrelaxing use
Of a long life; and in the hour of death,
The last-dear service of thy passing breath.

The monastery seems to have long been a sort of Culdee seminary; and it sent forth Aldwin to Melrose, and Renfrid to Whitby; but, after its subjection to Durham, it sank in character, had few inmates, and was governed by a “master.”

The original church was built after the Roman manner, by workmen brought from France; and it had windows of glass, which were then a novelty in Britain.

The reconstructed church of the eleventh century, as afterwards restored and altered, and also some remains of the monastic buildings, are still standing. The chancel measures 40 feet by 15; is built of cubical stones, like those in Roman walls; has mainly a Saxon character, with decorated windows inserted about 1400; and contains some fine oak carving, panels for stall desks, of later English date, but of flamboyant character.

The tower is Norman; rises from two low round arches; and is of two stages, the upper one rising from a slope. The present nave was built in 1866. A rude oak seat, called Bede’s chair, probably hewn out by an axe, is in the vestry, and has been much chipped by visitors, who wished to have splinters of it for relics or charms. The remains of the monastic buildings seem to be of Norman date, with parts of even earlier date; and stand on the S of the church.

Jarrow and its neighbourhood present a striking contrast now to what they were in the time of Bede. “Could Bede see the place now, ” says Howitt, “he would imagine chaos come again. He would see the whole breadth of the river occupied with a host of vessels of all nations; scores of tall chimneys vomiting volumes of black smoke; houses clustered right and left, as far as the eye can reach, half lost in reeks and vapours of a thousand sorts, issuing from coke and brick kilns, from forges and roperies, from manufactories of glass and alkalies.

He would see steam boats and steam engines; and along the banks of the Tyne, ranges of ballast hills, that is, hills, almost mountains of sand, that ships coming from the south of England and the Continent have brought as ballast, and emptied here.” This description applies truly to the whole parish, in all its reach along the Tyne; and applies centrally to the town, as situated about midway between the two extremes.

A coal mine, known as the Jarrow colliery, began to be worked in 1803, and was the scene of terrible explosions by hydrogen in 1826, 1828, and 1830.

Extensive ship building yards, blast furnaces, and rolling mills, and previously belonging to a private company, passed, in 1865, to a limited liability company with a capital of £2,000,000. There are also alkali works, an extensive paper manufactory, and extensive iron ship building yards. These yards give employment to a very large number of men, and were the place where the royal navy steam ship “Defence” and one of the floating batteries were built.

A graving dock, at the W end of the yards, was opened in 1865; is rendered easily accessible by means of two entrance piers; has a depth, on the sill, of about 16 feet at ordinary spring tides; and, when not occupied by vessels of the building yards, will be available for any vessel, wooden or iron.

The town has a head post-office, a railway station, chapels for United Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, New Connexion Methodists, United Free Methodists, and Roman Catholics, national schools, and charities £104. A new cemetery was projected in 1769.

The township is threefold, and bears the name of Hedworth, Monkton, and Jarrow. Acres, 2, 826; of which 476 are water. Real property, of Hedworth, £2, 972; of Monkton and Jarrow, £22, 012, of which £4, 000 are in mines, and £1, 500 in iron works. Pop, of the whole, in 1851, 3,835; in 1861, 6,494. Houses, 909. The increase of pop. arose from the extension of iron ship building.

The manor belongs to T. Brown, Esq. Monkton competes with Bede’s Hill and with Sunderland the claim of being Bede’s birth place; and it has a spring called Bede’s Well, which so late as 1740, was a superstitious resort for an expected healing of diseased or infirm children.

The parish contains also the townships of South Shields, Westoe, Harton, and Heworth. Acres, 9, 782; of which 1, 288 are water. Real property, £83, 075; of which £13, 286 are in mines, £938 in quarries, £2, 200 in iron works, and £917 in railways. Pop. in 1851, 42, 448; in 1861, 52, 925. Houses, 7, 098.

The parochial living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £200. Patrons, Lady James and T. Drewett, Esq. A chapelry of Jarrow-Grange was constituted in 1868. The living is a p. curacy. Value, £175. Patron, Lady James. Ten other chapelries are in the parish; and all are separate benefices. J. Hodgson, the historian of Northumberland, was parochial incumbent.

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

Historical Maps

Vision of Britain Historical Maps – includes topographic maps, boundary maps and land use maps

Administration

County: Durham
Civil Registration District: South Shields
Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Durham (Episcopal Consistory)
Diocese: Durham
Rural Deanery: Chester le Street
Poor Law Union: South Shields
Hundred: Chester Ward
Province: York