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#Click a letter or span of letters for your place name. This opens a jurisdictions table.<br> | #Click a letter or span of letters for your place name. This opens a jurisdictions table.<br> | ||
#Follow the instructions on the jurisdictions table page.<br> | #Follow the instructions on the jurisdictions table page.<br> | ||
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== Court Jurisdictions by Parish<br> == | |||
The whole of the county of Durham was under the primary jurisdiction of the Court of the Bishop of Durham also known as the Episcopal Consistory Court of Durham. This court should be searched first when looking for the probate of a deceased person who lived or owned property in Durham. Additional courts listed above also had jurisdiction over Durham. If you do not find a probate in the Court of the Bishop of Durham, search those courts. | |||
If you haven't found a will, search the appeals courts listed above. Information about these courts is in the [[England Probate Records|England Probate Records]] page. | |||
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== Durham Probate Courts == | == Durham Probate Courts == | ||
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The [[Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury]] also served as an appeals court. | The [[Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury]] also served as an appeals court. | ||
== Probate Indexes Online == | |||
*[http://familyrecords.dur.ac.uk/nei/ Durham and Northumberland probate records, 1527-1857]. The planned completion date is summer 2009. | |||
*Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills 1383-1858 [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/wills.asp?WT.hp=Wills] | |||
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== Some Explanatory Notes on the Courts of Durham == | |||
The earliest original wills for Durham date from 1540, but there are some registered copy wills for 1526-1534. There are earlier records filed with the superior courts, some dating back to 1311, in the bishop's general serices of act books. There are gaps in the records for early periods; others in poor condition. | |||
Inventories were prevalent from the earliest period through th efirst quarter of the 18th century. They may be filed with the administration bonds as well as with the original wills. Registered copies are usually indexed and arranged chronologically. Page numbers appear in the upper right corner and testators' names are frequently written in the margins. There may be an inventory written at the end of the copy will and almost always there will be a probate act in Latin indicating when the will was proven.<br> | |||
== Estate Duty Records<br> == | == Estate Duty Records<br> == | ||