Place:Durham St. Margaret, Durham, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

Durham St. Margaret is an ecclesiastical parish in the city of Durham, created in 1748 from a chapelry in Durham St. Oswald ancient parish. (Source: English Jurisdictions) It is located northwest of the city centre and includes the area of Crossgate.

From being a chapelry of the parish of St Oswald's, St Margaret's was made an independent parish in 1431, and St Margaret's Church promoted from a chapel of ease to a parish chuirch. The earliest parts of the church are Norman. The area of residence shrank considerably during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but grew again rapidly during the nineteenth century.

St Margaret's Church, built in the 12th century, stands on a small bluff at the foot of Crossgate; its churchyard extends from South Street up to Margery Lane.

Crossgate

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Crossgate is a small area of housing that sits above North Road but below the Neville's Cross area in the city of Durham. It is predominantly occupied by students at Durham University who favour the area due to its proximity to the university departments in the Elvet and Palace Green areas of the city.

Crossgate is one of the oldest centres of the city of Durham. In the Middle Ages, there was a borough separate from the borough of Durham, called Crossgate or Old Borough, and comprising Crossgate itself, Allergate and South Street; it was more or less coterminous with the chapelry of St Margaret of Antioch. It was under the lordship of Durham Priory and had its own borough court, but had no market of its own. Crossgate was first joined to the main centre of Durham, where the markets were held, when Bishop Flambard built Framwellgate Bridge, about the year 1128.

Research Tips

• County Durham Archives. Durham County Record Office is located on the Lower Ground Floor of County Hall, the administrative headquarters of Durham County Council, in Durham City.
• Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and the northern part of County Durham. The Family History Society have a research centre in Percy House in central Newcastle upon Tyne (full address on website), open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.
• The Cleveland, North Yorkshire & South Durham Family History Society covers the southern part of County Durham as well as the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire on the south side of the River Tees. Their homepage includes a map to show the society's coverage. (Once again, full address and other details on the website)
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Durham 1832 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time. This map includes the boundaries of the various Wards (or "hundreds") in existence at that time.
• Ordnance Survey map of Durham 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Durham 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, particularly helpful in large towns and cities.
• Unfortunately, the Victoria County History for Durham is limited in its coverage. It only includes the cathedral city of Durham, including an account of the cathedral itself. Also covers Stockton Ward in the south-east of the county (bordering North Yorkshire) including Hartlepool and Stockton on Tees.