KNOW YOUR PARISH

OVINGHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND

Author unknown

Like so many parishes in North-East England, Ovingham developed as a large parish that included not only the village of Ovingham itself, but also a considerable number of lesser villages and hamlets, known as townships. Ovingham was a rural parish of some 15,000 acres, and stretched roughly seven miles from North to South, and five from East to west. Bisected by the Tyne, it was bounded on the South and East by Ryton (County Durham), on the West by the twin parishes of Bywell St. Andrew and Bywell St. Peter, on the North by Stamfordham and on the North-East by Heddon-on-the-Wall. Its seventeen townships ranged in size from large villages to single farmsteads: although the suburbs of Newcastle have long since penetrated into the confines of the ancient parish. The area was generally one of tranquillity and rural beauty up to the late nineteenth century, and much of it is still so. Most of the inhabitants were agricultural workers, but there was also a flourishing dyeing thirteenth century.

The rise of the coal industry in the nineteenth century led to the rapid growth of such townships as Mickley, Wylam, and Prudhoe, but there are no collieries working now. Wylam colliery earned a place in history when William Hedley's `Puffing Billy' became the first locomotive to operate successfully without the use of a cog-and-rack system. It hauled coal trains along a line that went right past the humble cottage where another great name in railway history, George Stephenson, had been born. Across the river in Eltringham is the birthplace of another famous Ovingham native, Thomas Bewick, the illustrator and engraver, whose autobiography paints a pleasant picture of Ovingham as it was in the peaceful days of his childhood, in the late eighteenth century.

Most of the land was owned by the Duke of Northumberland and there must be much of interest to genealogists among the archives at Alnwick castle, which are not easy of access.

Any researches should start at Woodhorn Archives, where the parish registers are kept. The originals date from 1679 and copies exist at the Society of Genealogists and Newcastle City Library, as well as in the Computer File Index microfiche. All these copies end in 1812. There was a strong Independent movement in the parish, mainly at Horsley township where existed the earliest Independent congregation in Northumberland. The rector of Ovingham kept a record of births of Independents from 1750 to 1803, and their own baptismal registers from 1785 to 1836 are at the Public Record Office, with a microfilm copy at the NRO. Wesleyan Methodists were also strong in the area. Ovingham was split between two circuits Gateshead (for Hedley and Mickley, and Prudhoe Hall Farm chapels), and Newcastle West, (for Wylam and Rudchester chapel). The records for both circuits prior to 1837 are at the PRO. The monumental inscriptions have been copied in their entirety by a Miss Mandy Higgith who made a complete survey of the church-yard, a description of which forms the bulk of `Tyne and Tweed' No. 36

(Spring 1982), official journal of the Association of Northumberland Local History Societies. This article does not include any lists of monumental inscriptions, but it is to be hoped that these will become available. Meanwhile, researchers can consult a list which was made in 1812 and can be assumed to be complete at that date; it is available at the NRO, and also Newcastle Central Library and the Society of Genealogists. The Churchwardens' Accounts have survived since the 1760's and these provide valuable extra information. Finally, the list below shows the population of the townships as given by the Censuses of 1801 and 1921, whether the township was North or South of the Tyne, and any family pedigrees that exist in the Victoria County History of Northumberland a most valuable source for further research.

Editor’s notes

The Northumberland & Durham Family History Society hold the following records

Ovingham (1974) Monumental Inscriptions Typed Indexed Transcription Booklet http://www.ndfhs.org.uk/Sales/prices/NI_48.html

Ovingham Baptisms, Marriages & Burials 1813-1839, Indexed by Ric Barker http://www.ancestral-indexes.co.uk/prices/AI_24.html

Ovingham transcripts and indexes can be found from this link www.genuki.bpears.org.uk/NBL/Ovingham/ChurchRecords.html

Records of baptisms 1679-1928, marriages 1679-1999 and burials 1680-1913 are held at Woodhorn Archives http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1665

The bishops' transcripts at Durham University date from 1726 to 1869 and are on-line http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#c=1309819;w=170;p=imageBrowser

“An historical, topographical, and descriptive view of the county of Northumberland http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-RtNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA361&dq=historical+topographic+northumberland+%22ovingham+parish%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=1

Poll Book 1852 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=noMHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA147&dq=poll+book++1852+ovingham

Northumberland communities website http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/Communities.htm

Keys to the past www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N13334