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Northumberland Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

BELFORD

The location of the Parish of Belford (shown in green).
[View a zoomable and navigable Map of the Area provided by Multimap.]

"BELFORD is a parish chiefly in the northern division of Bambrough Ward, and partly in Islandshire, an insulated portion of the county formerly belonging to the county of Durham. It is bounded on the north by Islandshire, on the west by the parish of Chatton, on the south by Bambrough parish, and on the east by the German Ocean. It extends four miles and a half from east to west, and about three miles from north to south, and comprises the market town of Belford, and the townships of Detchant, Easington Grange, Elwick, Middleton, and Ross. The area of the parish is 11,604 acres, and its population in 1801, was 1,324; in 1811, 1,473; in 1821, 1,783; in 1831, 2,030; in 1841, 1,789; and in 1851, 1,857 souls. Like the adjoining parishes, Belford abounds in coal, lime-stone, and building stone, the soil is very fertile." [From History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland, Whellan, 1855].

Census

• The 1851 Census Index (microfiche CN28) published by the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society may be of value to researchers interested in this parish.
  
  

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Church History

• The Ancestral Indexes website provides information about Belford, St Mary.
  
  

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Church Records

• Belford - Church Records - links and information.
  
  

Civil Registration

• This area is now within Northumberland North 1st Registration District. Certificates of birth, death and marriage can be obtained from: Superintendent Registrar, Register Office, Berwick Community Centre, 5 Palace Street East, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1HT. If ordering certificates from a District Office, please note the following:
  
  
  1. The cost of a certificate is currently (from 1st April 2003) £ 7.00 - send a Sterling cheque payable to the Superintendent Registrar plus return postage or two International Reply Coupons;
  2. The G.R.O. (St Catherine's) Index references are of no value;
  3. For marriage certificates, the precise place of marriage must be given;
  4. Civil Registration in England and Wales began on July 1st 1837.
     
     

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Description and Travel

• Photographs of Belford from the FreeFoto.com website.
  
  
• The Belford section of North Northumberland Online
  
  
• The Northumberland Communities website includes pages relating to Belford. They provide "a range of learning resource material that reflects Northumberland's heritage, providing a base for studying the County's history. The website provides a starting point for understanding the development of communities in Northumberland. It also seeks to illustrate the range of sources for family and local history research that are available via Northumberland Archives Service."
  
  

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Gazetteers

• The section of The National Gazetteer (1868) relating to this parish - transcribed by Colin Hinson.
  
  

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History

• The history of Belford Parish is included in:- Northumberland County History Committee, History of Northumberland, Volume 1. Newcastle, A. Reid, 1893. (Available on fiche from Ancestral Indexes).
  
  
• LNER Wartime Evacuation Documents N.EVAC 2 and N.EVAC 3 describing the arrangements for evacuating children from Newcastle and Gateshead to rural parts of Northumberland (including Belford), Co Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmorland. The second document includes lists of schools with details of their places and times of departure and their destinations.
  
  

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Maps

• Belford - Maps - links and information.
  
  

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Belford Parish was part of Belford Poor Law Union. The Union Workhouse was located in West Street, Belford. Some records are held at Berwick-upon-Tweed Record Office, but these are of limited genealogical value.
  
  
• Peter Higginbotham has provided details, map and photographs of BelfordWorkhouse.
  
  

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