KNOW YOUR PARISH

HEWORTH, CO. DURHAM

By J Turnbull

Various theories have been put forward as to the origin of the name, but the most popular are: 1. Hedge-worth, i.e. the farmstead with a hedge. Hege = a hedge and Wyrth = a warded place, a farm. 2. The old English Heah + Worth = a village of a chieftain, with a high enclosure. From the middle Ages until the end of the 19th Century, the name applied was "The township of Upper and Nether Heworth" which took in all the present Felling Urban District and some of Gateshead at Carr Hill.

The 1125 Priory Rolls mention it as "Hewrth" and "Heworth Vill", and in Boldon book of 1185 as “Heworth". In 1312, a marauding Scottish army under Robert the Bruce burnt the village of Heworth and in 1348, the Black Death which ravaged England killed roughly a third of Heworth's population. During the Civil War, Cromwell's forces pillaged the old chapel, and it is also said that General Leslie billeted his troops in the village.

From the Middle Ages until the end of the 18th Century the hamlets around Heworth changed very little; most of the people worked on the land and little sparkling burns flowed from the fell into the then unpolluted Tyne. Heworth was once even called the prettiest village in County Durham.

The 19th Century brought great changes, with steam power, railways and new factories springing up along the shore of the river, the main industries being mining, quarrying, chemical works, ship and boat yards, potteries, glass and farming. Now there are no mines or quarries, and only small factory units dominate the industrial part of Heworth. In 1801 the population was 2,000 and in 1901 it had grown to 24,000 due to a large influx of Irish immigrants.

Heworth and the surrounding villages of Felling, Wardley and Bill Quay were part of the parish of Jarrow, and it was not made a separate parish until 1835. From this parish, the parishes of Windy Nook (St. Albans 1842) and Christ Church Felling 1866 were both made separate parishes in 1866, and then Heworth parish itself became part of Felling Urban District in 1896.

From the small chapel at Heworth a wooden church was built in 1710 and after falling into a state of disrepair a new parish church of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1822 through the efforts of the Revd. John Hodgson. The parish registers date from 1696 and are deposited at Durham County Record Office and Bishop’s Transcripts exist from 1768. Marriages 1696-1812 are also included in Boyd's Marriage Index. Copies of Nonconformist registers, Wesleyan Methodists, and Independents can be found in Gateshead Public Library.

Other interesting documents which are held at Durham County Record Office and Gateshead Public Library are the Vestry Minute Books and the Cotesworth and Carr-Ellison papers, and the papers of the Brandlings, Lords of Felling.

Editors note

The Northumberland and Durham Family History Society hold the following indices and transcripts for the parish in varying formats and Monumental inscriptions St Mary’s St Albans marriages 1843-1914. http://www.ancestral-indexes.co.uk/prices/AI_14.html

The George Bell collection of marriages covers marriages between the years (1696-1837) http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/Transcriptions/DUR/HEW.html.

Bishop Transcripts for Heworth are in Jarrow Parish transcripts http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=imageBrowser;c=1309819;w=401

There is a free searchable database for Methodist records for the Gateshead and Jarrow Methodist circuit. http://www.geocities.com/methodistfamily/?200919

Online resources

An account of Heworth parish in Eneas Mackenzie work “An historical topographical descriptive view of the Count Palatine of Durham” by 1825 pages 17-27 & 109-110. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0ThNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA26&dq=eneas+mackenzie+heworth&lr=&as_brr=1

Gateshead Local Studies have an excellent website covering the history of the town and villages that are incorporated into the borough and can be found at the following web address http://www.asaplive.com/Local/home.cfm

A history of Felling can be found at the following weblink below: http://www.asaplive.com/Local/Histories.cfm?ccs=529&cs=1995

St Mary’s Church Heworth is an extremely good website with a considerable amount of information for those interested in Local and Family history. http://www.stmaryschurchheworth.com/