Bishop Middleham Durham Family History Guide

Bishop Middleham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Durham.

Other places in the parish include: Cornforth, Mainsforth, Thrislington, and Conforth.

Alternative names: Middleham Bishop, Bishop’s Middleham

Parish church: St. Michael

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1559
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1769

Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Bishop Middleham Parish Registers

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BISHOP-MIDDLEHAM, a township and a parish in Stockton district, Durham. The township lies on the river Skern, 2¾ miles SE of Ferryhill r. station, and 8½ SSE of Durham; and has a post-office under Ferryhill. Acres, 2,023. Real property, £2,941. Pop., 432. Houses, 100.

The parish contains also the townships of Mainsforth, Cornforth, Thrislington, and Garmondswaymoor. Acres, 5,971. Real property, £7,233. Pop., 2,272. Houses, 475. The property is subdivided. The manor was once a seat of the Bishops of Durham. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value, £285. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is good; and there are charities £32.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

MIDDLEHAM, BISHOP’S (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Sedgefield, N. E. division of Stockton ward, S. division of the county of Durham; containing, with the townships of Cornforth, Garmondsway-Moor, Mainsforth, and Thrislington, 1434 inhabitants, of whom 511 are in the township of Bishop’s-Middleham, 4 miles (N. E.) from Rushyford.

This place is of considerable antiquity: its church was given in 1146 to the convent of Durham, by Osbert, nephew of Bishop Ralph Flambard; and soon afterwards, the manor appears to have been conveyed to the see of Durham, the bishops of which resided here, up to the end of the 14th century. Their castle was situated on a lofty brow of limestone, overlooking the marshy level of the Skerne; and the last remaining portion of it, a low oblong arched room, was removed some years since.

The parish is in several parts marshy, and there is little wood, except the plantations around the principal houses. The produce of a colliery here is shipped on the Tees; limestone is abundant, and is quarried for building and for manure.

The village is on the sides of two hills ascending from a deep vale, through which the road runs. At Cornforth are paper-mills and tile-kilns. A halmote court for the manor is held once in six months, at Middleham, Cornforth, and Sedgefield, in rotation, for the recovery of debts under 40s.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £4. 19. 2., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income £152; impropriators, W. Russell, R. Surtees, and H. Williamson, Esqrs. The great tithes of the township of Bishop’s-Middleham have been commuted for £219, and the small tithes for £76. The church, originally a handsome structure in the early English style, and said to have been erected by Bishop Anthony Beck, has been much disfigured by injudicious alterations and repairs; it contains a fine old font of Stanhope marble.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Historical Directories

Kelly’s Directory of the Leather Trades 1880

BISHOP MIDDLEHAM

Boot & Shoe Makers
Pamely William
Wilson Robert

Maps

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

Administration

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