This latest volume in the Victoria Country History of Durham (the first for over eighty years) presents a study of the township of Darlington, part of the parish of the same name. It traces the history of Darlington from the earliest times: a small Anglo-Saxon settlement becoming a flourishing bishop's borough in the middle ages; its growth as an important staging post on the Great North Road during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and the town'sprosperity during the nineteenth century, reinforced by its situation on the railway network. The story is taken up to the present time, with accounts of Darlington's social, political, topographical and economic history. The latter includes thorough accounts of major industries, including iron and engineering, leather, and the little-known but highly significant worsted and linen manufacturing industries.GILLIAN COOKSON is County Editor, VictoriaCounty History of Durham.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-904-35626-4

Price:  £95.00

Edition of James Raine the Elder's memoir of his northern England childhood and other family materials, prepared by his great-grand-daughter, Angela Marsden. Printed in the year of the bicentenary of his birth. Contains: Memoir of his Childhood, by James Raine (1791-1858); Early Life of M. Raine, by Margaret Hunt, daughter of James Raine; Letters of Thomas Peacock concerning the Birkbeck Family (Peacock was father-in-law of James Raine). Concludes with a list of the Surtees Society's publications up to volume 200.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44057-3

Price:  £25.00

Survey made 1377-1380 by Bishop Hatfield (1345-1382). Much more extensive than Boldon Buke. Contains full list of all tenants, with quantity of land they held and enumeration of services belonging to each manor. 'Singularly curious as a repertory of names during the fourteenth century.' Appendices include bailiff's roll of manor of Auckland 1337-8, bailiff's rolls for various episcopal manors, 1349-50, and a general receiver's roll for 1385-6.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44011-5

Price:  £25.00

This is one of an on-going series of publications from the Borthwick Insitute for Archives, intended to provide insights into new research concerning the history of Yorkshire and the North of England.     ISBN 1-904497-09-8

Price:  £4.00

Forty-six deathbed wills and fifty-seven inventories of fifty-eight persons, seven of whom were women. Introduction covers areas such as the documents, the making of the wills and inventories, family and executors, the religiouspreamble, charitable bequests, valuations, the house and its contents, occupations, the clergy, the land and its occupiers and funerals. Includes glossary and list of the books of Isaac Lowden (priest, d. 1612).   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44058-0

Price:  £25.00

John Young was a Sunderland chemist. His diary was prompted by his desire to record his inner life, and the subjective passages reveal the thoughts and feelings of an early Victorian evangelical. However, his comments on his social, religious and business life are more interesting to today's reader and make his diary an interesting social document, offering vignettes of life in Sunderland in the early 1840s. Two appendices: I. John Young and pepper adulteration; II. Principles of Doctrine and Church Discipline held by the Methodists of the Wesleyan Association in the Sunderland Circuit. Market: Social history.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44040-5

Price:  £25.00

A very early and rare directory which covers the market towns and principal villages of the county (Please note that smaller villages and hamlets are not included).    

Price:  £9.79

One of the typical Pigot's county directories. Covers all towns and villages in the county, with detailed information about each place.    

Price:  £9.79

Descriptions of the towns and villages in the county, with details of their facilities, and all of the people with trades, and a wealth of information for the family historian.    

Price:  £9.79

   

Price:  £12.13

Lists every person in the county who owned 1 acre of land or more, with name, place, extent of land and its value.    

Price:  £8.94

A huge volume with tens of thousands of names, addresses, trades and occupations, and a comprehensive description of every place in the county and and its history.    

Price:  £15.11

This is a particularly important and useful reference book for those with Durham ancestors.    

Price:  £12.13

An introduction to the office of bursar and its records precedes the five documents dating from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Covers the period of transition in the management of estates when, between 1350 and 1418,the direct exploitation of demesnes gave way to a system of leasing. The five documents are: I. Valuation, [c. 1230?]; II. Rent-roll, Pentecost 1270; III. Bursar's Rental, 1340-1 and Sale of Tithes, 1343; IV. Bursar's Rental, 1396-7; V. Bursar's Rent-Book, 1495-6. Ends with a gazeteer giving a description of all the properties accounted for, under the headings of temporalities, spiritualities and obedientiary property.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44055-9

Price:  £25.00

Rolls for 1471-1473 in Latin, thereafter in English. Preceded by an introduction to the Durham Quarter Session, the Durham Commissions of the Peace and the Business in Quarter Sessions. Accounts for the years 1471-1473, 1510-1512, 1555-1557, 1596-1618, 1622, 1624-1625.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44056-6

Price:  £25.00

Although religious life in medieval Durham was ruled by its prince bishop and priory, the laity flourished and played a major role in the affairs of the parish, as Margaret Harvey demonstrates. Using a variety of sources, she provides a complete account of its history from the Conquest to the Dissolution of the priory, with a particular emphasis on the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. She shows how the laity interacted vigorously with both bishop and priory, and the relations between them, with the priory providing schools, hospitals, chantries and regular sermons, but also acting as a disciplinary force. On a wider level, she also looks at the whole question of lay religion andwhat can be discovered about it. She finishes by an examination of local reactions to the Reformation.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83277-5

Price:  £50.00

Compiled by John Sykes, this is the full set of four volumes published between 1866 and 1875, and covers the period from the earliest records to 1875.    

Price:  £14.25

An incredibly useful resource! Really high quality digitised maps that you can zoom in and in to see the finest detail.    

Price:  £9.79

This is one of an on-going series of publications from the Borthwick Insitute for Archives, intended to provide insights into new research concerning the history of Yorkshire and the North of England.   pp 31   ISBN 0-903857-40-5

Price:  £4.00

This book describes hundreds and hundreds of Darlington people, in some cases people from the 18th century. An absolute gem for those researching their Darlington ancestors.    

Price:  £12.13

I. Durham Recusants' Estates: ii. 1717-1778 Continuation from SS 173 (o/p). II. Durham Estates on the Recusants' Roll 1636-7.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44035-1

Price:  £25.00

A very comprehensive directory of the major city and towns of the north east of England. A wonderful resource for those researching their ancestors in the north east.    

Price:  £12.13

The recent surge of interest in the political, ecclesiastical, social and economic history of north-eastern England is reflected in the essays in this volume. The topics covered range widely, including the development of both rural and urban life and institutions. There are contributions on the well-known richness of Durham cathedral muniments, its priory and bishopric, and there is also a particular focus on the institutions and practices which evolved to deal with Scottish border problems. A number of papers broach lesser-known subjects which accordingly offer new territory for exploration, among them the distinctive characteristics of local jurisdiction in the northern counties, the formation of north-eastern landscapes, the course of agrarian development in the region and the emergence of a northern gentry class alongside the better known ecclesiastical and lay magnates.
CHRISTIAN D. LIDDY is Lecturer in History at the University of Durham, where R.H. BRITNELL is Emeritus Professor.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83127-3

Price:  £50.00

This study of England's north-eastern parts examines counties Durham and Northumberland as well as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with its central theme the extent to which the county gentry and urban elites possessed a sense of regional identity. It concentrates on these elites' social, political, religious and cultural connections which extended beyond the purely administrative jurisdictions of the county or town. By concentrating on a series of seismic changes in the area - the demise of its great regional magnates, the rapid upsurge of the coal industry and the union of the crowns - it offers a distinctive chronological coverage, from the latter half of the sixteenth century through to the early seventeenth century. Old stereotypes of the north-eastern landed elites as isolated and backward are overturned while their response to state formation reveals their political sophistication. Traditional views of the religious conservatism of the north-eastern parts are reassessed to demonstrate its multi-faceted complexion. And contrasting cultural patterns are analysed, through ballad literature, the cult of St Cuthbert and increasing exposure to metropolitan 'civility', to reveal a series of sub-regions within the north-eastern reaches of the kingdom. Dr DIANA NEWTON is Lecturer in History at the University of Teesside.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83254-6

Price:  £50.00

In 1646 Parliament negotiated a substantial loan from the city of London, secured by the sale of ecclesiastical temporalities. An ordinance was passed abolishing archbishops and bishops and transferring their lands and possessions for the use of the Commonwealth.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44002-3

Price:  £25.00

See Volume II. Covers the manors of Chester-le-Street, Wickham, Gateshead, Houghton-le-Spring, Easington and Bishop Middleham and the collieries of Gateshead and Whickham in the Chester, Easington and Stockton Wards.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44004-7

Price:  £25.00

The peasant economy in north-east England, and indeed throughout the country as a whole, underwent many changes during the later middle ages, but owing to the lack of evidence it has been difficult to come to definite conclusions. This pioneering survey uses previously unexploited sources, principally from tithe data, to offer new interpretations of the patterns for change and the scope for adaptability.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83287-4

Price:  £50.00

During the 1500s and 1600s, the Heralds visited each county and recorded the pedigrees of families. In many cases the pedigrees date back to Norman times (the 11th century). These records form an extremely important source of information for family historians.    

Price:  £12.13

Documents relating to Bek as administrator of the bishopric, mainly concerning his quarrel with the convent over his rights of visitation. Sources printed in other major collections are calendared, all others are in full. Includes as appendices: the election roll (1283), two appeals by the convent of Durham against the bishop on his attempt to visit (1300), the record of the legal proceedings taken against the bishop by the Earl of Warwick (1310-11), andtwo mandates of Antony Bek as Patriach of Jerusalem.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44029-0

Price:  £25.00

Accounts of Catholic country gentleman's household, detailing costs of food, clothing, domestic and estate items, wages, gifts and allowances etc. Provides insight into the functioning of a family and estate in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and the state of the local economy. Household accounts: Social and economic history, 17-18c.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44000-9

Price:  £25.00

Sir James Clavering (1680-1748) was a typical member of the lesser gentry in County Durham, but he had widespread family connections throughout the North East and became interested in national politics and the coal-trade. Collection contains letters from Anne Clavering, Thomas Yorke and John Yorke, miscellaneous business letters, letters from his wife, Catherine and to his son, George.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44036-8

Price:  £25.00

The Durham Liber Vitae (London, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian A. vii) is one of seven surviving libri memoriales from the Carolingian period, and the only English example of its date. The book, which has been notably little studied, contains several thousand names of persons associated with a Northumbrian church, probably Lindisfarne, but possibly Monkwearmouth/Jarrow.   hardback   ISBN 978-1-843-83060-3

Price:  £55.00

The original Gentleman's Magazine contained articles on a vast array of subjects, including lots of wonderful topographical pieces. In 1891 George Gomme republished all of these topograhical articles but edited and indexed them into county specific order. Each of Gomme's works contains between two and four separate counties, except for the London volumes. An absolute goldmine of information about the county, its people and its places. SEE BELOW FOR A VERY SPECIAL OFFER FOR ALL OF THE VOLUMES.    

Price:  £12.13

A most important work on the County of Durham, which is referred to by most modern historians and writers. Published in 1785 in three large volumes, the first of which begins with the pre-Roman history of the area, and the Brigantes tribe of the district, then on through the Saxon period, with the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. The remainder of the first volume takes us through the times of the Bishops of Lindisfarne and the Bishops of Durham, to the late 1700s. Volumes 2 and 3 enter into greater detail concerning each of the towns and parishes of the county throughout history.    

Price:  £21.28

A comprehensive history and geography of the County of Durham in two huge volumes, and containing many delightful old engravings. Each township and parish is described in great detail, together with its facilities and amenities, history, trade and transport, early railways, etc. A wealth of information for the historian and genealogist.    

Price:  £21.28

Edmund Tew's notebook is a remarkable if cryptic record of the troublesome relationships of local people in a rapidly developing area of North-East England.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44044-3

Price:  £40.00

Henry Liddell, Esq., c. 1673-1717. Younger son of the Liddells of Ravensworth. Became the supervisor of the family's extensive interests in the Durham coalfield and thereby one of the leading figures in the coal-trade. William Cotesworth of Gateshead, c. 1668-1725. Rising local entrepreneur. Shared business and political interests produced a mutual understanding and trust between these two men of different social backgrounds. The friendship lasted until Henry Liddell's death and had implications for some time afterwards. The letters provide 'a vivid picture of the labyrinthine workings of the Newcastle coal-trade at a difficult time in its history.' Market: Economic history, 19c.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44054-2

Price:  £25.00

Entries for 1427-1435, from folios 294v-304v of the register of Bishop Langley's vicars-general. Substantial index of persons, places and subjects for all volumes of the register. See volumes 164, 166, 169, 170, 177.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44037-5

Price:  £25.00

Entries for 1421-26, folios 110-174. Latin transcription with English (editorial) descriptive headings and occasional calendaring of entries in common form in English. See Volumes 164, 166, 170, 177, 182.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44033-7

Price:  £25.00

Mainly Latin, some English. Includes the episcopal register during the vacancy 1559-61. Introduction covers the registers and registrar, Diocesan administration and relations with the crown, archbishops of York and chapter of the cathedral. Largely calendared, with select entries in full.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44028-3

Price:  £25.00

Transcripts from the original registers. Baptisms, marriages and burials from 1609 until 1895. Virtually every record is annotated with additional information about the people involved and often other members of their family. Kindly loaned to The Archive CD Books Project by The Harleian Society.    

Price:  £9.79

Introduction covers Royal Visitations of 1535, 1547 and 1559, with details of visitation procedure for both clergy and laity. Queen Elizabeth required the Visitation of 1559 to check on the damage caused to Protestant reforms under Queen Mary. The Act Book, State Papers 12/10, covers the dioceses of York, Durham, Carlisle and Chester and was originally two volumes. The first is here transcribed in full, the second calendared. Mostly Latin, though the churchwardens' presentments, the text of the recognisances and verbatim reports are in English. Provides detailed information about every aspect of the church in English society at this critical period.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44006-1

Price:  £25.00

Wonderful historical accounts of these English counties: Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire.    

Price:  £15.11

It is exactly a thousand years since Darlington first appeared in written records. During the following millennium, the small Anglo-Saxon settlement grew into today's thriving town, its history now generally linked in the public mind with entrepreneurial Quakers and the birth of railways. But as this book shows, Darlington's history encompasses many more diverse aspects in the change from medieval village to modern town. Through a survey of its physical development, the book describes how the town flourished in the middle ages; was largely destroyed by fire in 1585; and grew again in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, before the coming of the railway in the mid-1800s reinforced its prosperity. Its story is taken up to the present day, showing how Darlington is characterised by residential suburbs, with a town centre where Victorian and eighteenth-century buildings populate the original medieval streets. Dr GILL COOKSON is the County Editor for the Victoria County History of Durham.   paperback   ISBN 978-1-904-35621-9

Price:  £19.99

An incredibly detailed directory of the North Eastern towns of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Wallsend, Jarrow, North & South Shields, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay. Each place has a virtually house by house street directory with names of residents and their occupations; plus alphabetical lists of all households and trades directories. You could even find your grandparents in this book, and walk down the street to see who their neighbours were. It is a really good way to put meat on the bones of your family history.    

Price:  £8.50

Documents dating 1580-1599, with several earlier examples omitted from Part I. Includes some documents from the York Registry. Much information on the great traders of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in this prosperous period, as well as the unsettled conditions of the border region. Generally transcribed in full, in English. Indexes of names and places for Parts I and II.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44012-2

Price:  £25.00

Documents dating 1543-1602. Expands the selection in previous parts by covering gentry, clergy, yeomen and merchants. Indexes of wills and inventories, names and places. See volumes 2, 38, 142.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44014-6

Price:  £25.00

Documents dating 1603-1649. Indexes of wills and inventories, names and places. See volumes 2, 38, 112.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44020-7

Price:  £25.00

Durham diocesan registry documents until 1580. Some Latin, mainly English, transcribed in full with occasional explanatory notes. Concludes with an account and Annual Report of the Surtees Society. See volumes 38, 112, 142.   hardback   ISBN 978-0-854-44010-8

Price:  £25.00

This is one of an on-going series of publications from the Borthwick Insitute for Archives, intended to provide insights into new research concerning the history of Yorkshire and the North of England.   pp 31   ISBN 0-903857-42-1

Price:  £4.00