Hunstanworth, Durham Genealogy
Parish History
In common with it's neighbours at Edmundbyers, Durham and Ebchester, Durham the parish began as a chapelry in 1747 within the ancient parish of Edmundbyers, Durham. St James chapel was replaced in 1862 by the present church.
HUNSTONWORTH, or Hunstanworth, a parish, in the union of Weardale, W. division of Chester ward, N. division of the county of Durham, 8 miles (N. N. W.) from Stanhope; containing 567 inhabitants. The hospital of Kepier seems to have had possessions here for a considerable period prior to the Dissolution, upon which event the estate was granted to William, Lord Paget, the founder of the house of Beaudesert. Nearly one-half of the lands now belong to the trustees of Bishop Crewe's charity, who are lords of the manor. The parish is bounded on the north by the river Derwent, which is formed here by the union of the two rivulets called Beldon beck and Nuckton beck, and which divides it from Northumberland: the Derwent leadmines are principally in the parish. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of R. Capper, Esq., the impropriator, and has a net income of £60. The church is a small neat structure, almost entirely built towards the close of the last century, on the site of a very ancient edifice.
From: 'Hungerton - Huntingdonshire', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 583-588. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51054 Date accessed: 29 March 2011.
Resources
Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.
Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.
Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections DDR/EA/PBT/2/145 1765-1871 Parish Register transcripts are available to search free online at FamilySearch Historical Records.
The dates of the post-1760 transcripts have been noted in detail and sometimes only cover years. For most parishes in the collection there are gaps in the sequence of transcripts. It is advisable to consult the original parish registers for these years and events.
The Parish Registers for the period 1659-1960 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL.(Cp/Hun)
Non Conformist Churches
Census records
Poor Law Unions
Weardale Poor Law Union, Durham
Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Durham Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.
Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.
Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.