COUNTY DURHAM DIRECTORY
ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES Darlington Centre For Local Studies
a Darlington Library, Crown Street, Darlington DL1 1ND
t 01325 349630 e local.studies@darlington. gov.uk
w darlington.gov.uk/web/arena/
local-and-family-history
There are more than 200,000 items held here of which 43,000 are images – photographs, watercolours, slides and oil paintings. The collection focuses on the borough of Darlington, but also has books and directories relating to the wider area encompassing Northumberland, County Durham and North Yorkshire. There are indexed collections of Quaker families, and microfilms of local newspapers from 1847 to date including the Northern Echo, Darlington & Stockton Times and Teesdale Mercury.
Durham Cathedral Library
a The College, Durham DH1 3EH
t 0191 386 2489 e library@durhamcathedral. co.uk
w durhamcathedral.co.uk/
heritage/library
This world-renowned library traces its origins back to the 7thcentury monastery at Lindisfarne.
Durham Clayport Library
a 8 Millennium Place, Durham DH1 1WA
t 03000 265524 e durhamclayport library@durham. gov.uk
w bit.ly/durham
clayport
The library looks after census returns, parish registers, and newspapers and other periodicals. Via the Durham Record website dre.durham.gov.uk you can explore 10,000 photographs dating from around 1860 to the present day. The library also has local and business directories covering County Durham and Northumberland for various dates from 1827 to 1994.
Durham County Record 2IÀFH
a County Hall, Durham DH1 5UL
t 03000 267619 e record.office@durham.gov.uk
w durhamrecordoffice.org.uk
The record office holds important collections relating to heavy industry, railways, manufacturing and coal mining (including those created by the National Coal Board and predecessor companies), as well as miners’ unions and employers’ associations. The Durham Light
Infantry collection sits alongside parish and nonconformist registers, as well as census, birth, marriage and death records, and collections relating to families and estates, schools and colleges, courts, police, hospitals and individuals. You can search some local civil registration indexes online via gro.durham.gov.uk/ pgpublicsearch.aspx.
Durham University Library
a Special Collections, Palace Green Library, Palace Green, Durham DH1 3RN t 0191 334 2972 e pg.library@durham.ac.uk w dur.ac.uk/library/asc
There’s a huge variety of valuable genealogical resources here, and a great deal of material that can be accessed remotely. The library holds wills proved by the Church of England courts within the old diocese of Durham up to 1858. You can explore much of this data via the North East Inheritance Project ( familyrecords.dur. ac.uk/nei). You can also explore Bishops’ Transcripts held here via FamilySearch at bit.ly/ fs-bts-durham.
Gateshead Local Studies
a Local Studies, Central Library, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead NE8 4LN
t 0191 433 8430 e libraries@gateshead.gov.uk w gatesheadlibraries.com
Most of the resources held here (church records, trade directories, electoral registers etc) are currently in storage during building work, which is due to end in January 2020.
Newcastle Local Studies
a City Library & Community Hub, Charles Avison Building, 33 New Bridge Street West, Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8AX t 0191 277 4100 e information@newcastle.gov.uk w bit.ly/newcastle-local
Newcastle Local Studies has a vast collection of records covering Durham and Northumberland, from parish register transcripts to memorial inscriptions.
South Tyneside Local And Family History Centre
a The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, 45 Market Place, South Shields NE33 1JF
t 0191 427 1818 e localhistory.library@ southtyneside.gov.uk
w theworduk.org
You can explore some of the items preserved here via southtynesidehistory.co.uk (which has more than 15,000 digitised images) and bit.ly/ south-tyne-rem (information about the lives of the 6,405
people from South Tyneside who served in the First World War).
Stockton Central Library
a Church Road, Stocktonon-Tees TS18 1TU
t 01642 528079 e reference.library@stockton. gov.uk
w bit.ly/stockton-central-lib
The library holds newspapers on microfilm, parish registers and census returns. Visitors also have free access to ancestry.co.uk, britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk.
Sunderland Local Studies Library
a 31–32 Fawcett Street, Sunderland SR1 1RE
t 0191 561 8439 e local.studies@sunderland. gov.uk
w bit.ly/sunder-lsl
Material covering the old County of Durham with an emphasis on Sunderland is available here, along with copies of and indexes to local newspapers from 1831. There are also Lloyd’s Registers of Shipping (1816–2012) and Lloyd’s wreck registers.
Teesside Archives
a Exchange House, Exchange Square, Middlesbrough TS1 1DB
t 01642 248321 e teesside_archives@ middlesbrough.gov.uk
w middlesbrough.gov.uk/
teessidearchives
The archive holds material for Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool, including shipping registers from ports that were formerly part of historic County Durham.
Tyne & Wear Archives
a Discovery Museum, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4JA t 0191 277 2248 e info@twarchives.org.uk w twarchives.org.uk
You will find material here from areas of historic County Durham that are now in Tyne and Wear (such as parts of Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland). The business records available at the archive include shipbuilding, engineering and coal mining.
GROUPS AND SOCIETIES Cleveland, North Yorkshire And South Durham Family History Society
w clevelandfhs.org.uk
This society holds meetings in Hartlepool ( hartlepoolfamily historygroup.com), Upper Dales ( upperdales.weebly.com) and Sedgefield ( sedgefieldfamily history.com). Officially the society covers all County Durham parishes south of a line from Hart on the east coast to Middletonin-Teesdale, as well as most of the old North Riding from Whitby to Hawes. The website includes some free online finding aids.
Northumberland & Durham Family History Society
a Library & Research Centre, 7th Floor, Percy House, Percy Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4PW t 0191 261 2159 w ndfhs.org.uk
The society has branches in Alnwick, Blyth, Belmont (Durham), Hexham, London, Newcastle, Pegswood (Morpeth),
North Shields and South Shields. At the Library & Research Centre you can explore transcribed baptisms, marriages, burials and memorial inscriptions via Findmypast ( bit.ly/fmp-ndfhs).
MUSEUMS Beamish Museum
a Regional Resource Centre, Beamish, County Durham DH9 0RG t 0191 370 4000 w beamish.org.uk
This huge open-air museum tells the story of everyday life in northeast England in the 1820s, 1900s and 1940s, and shows the impact of the Industrial Revolution.
Durham Mining Museum
a c/o Spennymoor Town Council, Town Hall, Spennymoor, County Durham DL16 6DG t 0757 701 2882 w dmm.org.uk/mindex.htm
The website has colliery maps, lists of companies including staff, plus a database of accidents. There are also display rooms in Spennymoor Town Hall.
Durham Museum
a
St Mary-le-Bow, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3ET t 0191 384 5589 w durhammuseum.co.uk
The museum is now closed for the winter, but reopens in April.
WEBSITES Durham At War
w durhamatwar.org.uk
This project charts the impact of the First World War on the area.
Durham Light Infantry Museum
w durham.gov.uk/article/7431/ dli-digital-collections
Find out more about the various DLI digital collections.
Durham Records Online
w durhamrecordsonline.com
Search transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials from County Durham and nearby parishes in Northumberland and Yorkshire for free. Viewing records starts at 75p per record.
Hartlepool History Then And Now
w hhtandn.org
This free online archive is built around over 11,000 images.
Mining Durham’s Hidden Depths
w bit.ly/dro-depths
This project has created indexes to the Durham Miners’ Association trade union records – there are currently 229,648 names in the database.