Churches of Other Denominations

Roman Catholics by an act of 1606 were obliged to be baptised by the Church of England and buried in the parish churchyard. They usually were buried in the churchyard but baptised and married according to Roman Catholic rites. Heavy penalties meant that it was not safe for registers to be kept, so few are known for the seventeenth century. Roman Catholic priests were not parish priests but were either chaplains or peripatetic priests. Many in fact took their registers from place to place.
After the middle of the eighteenth century registers are more frequent.

After the introduction of Hardwicke’s Marriage Act in 1754 most Catholics underwent a form of marriage in the parish church.

Catholic marriage registers usually begin in the early years of the nineteenth century and after 1837 Roman Catholic Churches could be licensed for marriage.

Few Roman Catholic registers contain deaths or burials. Some chapels had burial grounds but not until the Burial Act, 1852, were Roman Catholic burial grounds legalised.

County Durham is included in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and you will find information and contact details of Roman Catholic churches in that diocese online.

You will find our holdings on microfilm and to see them you must make an appointment.

You will find details of our holdings for each Roman Catholic Church on our website.

Many registers of non-conformist churches have been transcribed and/or indexed. You will find a list of the transcripts/indexes on our website.

The Family Records Centre has produced a factsheet on Catholic records.