Place:Dinnington, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

Dinnington is a village and civil parish located since 1974 within the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England. It is about 9 miles (14 km) north of the city centre, near Newcastle International Airport. According to the 2011 Census, Dinnington Parish has 737 households and a population of 1,636.

The village has been inhabited since well before the Iron Age (700 BC). Mining has taken place from at least 1715, with the first deep mine being the Augusta Pit at Dinnington Colliery which was sunk in 1867. 1919 saw the formation of Dinnington Parish Council. In 1974 boundary changes led to the village, previously within Northumberland, being incorporated into the City of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Formerly a coal-mining village with at least four pits within two miles (3 km), Dinnington expanded during the last 40 years of the twentieth century to become a commuter or dormitory village with suburban residential estates.

end of Wikipedia contribution

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Dinnington from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"DINNINGTON, a township and a parish in Castle Ward district, Northumberland. The township lies near the source of the river Pont, 5 miles W of Dudley [railway] station, and 6½ NNW of Newcastle-on-Tyne; and has a post office under Newcastle-on-Tyne. Acres: 812. Population: 284. Houses: 59.

"The parish includes also the townships of Horton-Grange, Brenkley, Mason, Woolsington, and Prestwick; and was formerly part of Ponteland parish. Acres: 5,538. Rated property: £6,000. Population: 774. Houses: 157. The property is divided among a few. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham. Value: £160. Patron: M. Bell, Esq. The church is good."

Dinnington was a township in the ancient parish of Ponteland until 1818 when it became an ancient parish of itself. It also became a civil parish during the 19th century. From 1894 unti 1974 it was part of Castle Ward Rural District. In 1955 the civil parish was significantly altered when it absorbed all or part of the parishes of Brenkley, Horton Grange and Mason and gave up some acreage to the newly formed Brunswick and Hazlerigg as well as to the much older Ponteland.

Research Tips

• Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.

Full postal address: Museum and Northumberland Archives, Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF; Phone: 01670 624455

There is a branch office in Berwick upon Tweed.

• Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and 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.
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 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 Northumberland 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 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, there is no Victoria County History for Northumberland.