Place:Etherley, Durham, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

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

"ETHERLEY, a chapelry in Auckland-St. Andrew parish, Durham; near the Northern Counties Union railway, 3¼ miles WSW of Bishop-Auckland. It has a station, jointly with Witton-Park, on the railway; and its post town is Witton-Park, under Darlington. It was constituted in 1833. Rated property: £2,539. Population: 1,712. Houses: 352. The property is much subdivided. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value: £300. Patron: the Bishop of Manchester. The church is very good."

Etherley was originally a chapelry in the ancient parish of Auckland St. Andrew in County Durham. It became a separate civil parish in 1866. From 1894 until 1937 it was part of Auckland Rural District. In 1937 it was transferred to the rural district of Barnard Castle.

In 1939 Etherley's name was changed to West Auckland and it absorbed the civil parish of Auckland St. Helen. A portion of West Auckland became part of Bishop Auckland Urban Distict. Between 1974 and 2009 the whole area became part of the larger Wear Valley non-metropolitan district. Since 2009 County Durham has been a unitary authority.

West Auckland

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

West Auckland is a village in County Durham, England, in the northeast of England, to the west of Bishop Auckland on the A688 road. It is not known exactly when West Auckland was first inhabited, but there is evidence of Auckland West in the history of St. Cuthbert in the 11th century. The Bolden Book in 1183 showed that at that time West Auckland was inhabited by a number of serfs who were part of the tenantry of the Bishop of Durham, Hugh de Puset, the first of the Prince Bishops. The creation of a church dedicated to St. Helen in the 13th century in Auckland West heralded the beginning of a separate community in what later became known as Auckland St. Helen or St. Helen Auckland. After the opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway in 1825, the search for coal escalated dramatically in the West Auckland area and the population increased as a consequence with the promise of employment. By the turn of the century, West Auckland colliery employed 620 men. The colliery closed in July 1967. The village of West Auckland is reputed to have one of the largest village greens in the country, lined with 17th and 18th century buildings.

end of Wikipedia contribution

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.