Greystead, Northumberland Family History Guide

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Greystead is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Northumberland, created in 1811 from Simonburn Ancient Parish.

Other places in the parish include: Chirdon and Smalesmouth.

Alternative names: Gaystead

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1820
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1818

Nonconformists include:

Adjacent Parishes

Greystead 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.

Greystead Bishops Transcripts 1818-1852

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

GAYSTEAD, or Greystead, a parish in Bellingham district, Northumberland; on the river North Tyne, adjacent to the Border Counties railway, near Tarset and Thorneyburn r. stations, 5 miles WNW of Bellingham. It comprises the townships of Chirdon and Smalesmouth; and its post town is Falstone, under Hexham. Acres, 18,003. Real property, £2,436. Pop., 290. Houses, 41. The property is divided among a few.

The surface includes a portion of the North Tyne valley; but is mainly moor and upland. Greystead Bower was long the seat of a branch of the Charltons, famous in Border raids. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value, £150. Patron, Greenwich Hospital. The church is pretty 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

GREYSTEAD, or Gaystead, a parish, in the union of Bellingham, N. W. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 20 miles (N. W.) from Hexham; containing, with the townships of Chirdon and Smalesmouth, 219 inhabitants.

This place, which is intersected by the river North Tyne, formed part of the extensive parish of Simonburn, which was divided in 1811, by act of parliament, into six distinct parishes. That of Greystead comprises by computation 16,010 acres, whereof 15,700 are pasture, 260 arable, and about 50 wood. The surface is varied; the soil in the valley here, which is narrow, is very fertile, but a considerable portion of the parish is unproductive moorland.

The living is a rectory not in charge; patrons, the Governors of Greenwich Hospital: the tithes have been commuted for £150, and the glebe consists of 14 acres. The church was consecrated in 1818.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Maps

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

Administration

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