Durham County Record Office Online Shop

Publications

Below you will find information about the books and maps we sell, including useful indexes for family and local history, and books about popular archive collections such as Winterton Hospital, and the Strathmore Estate records.

Our publications are categorised as follows:

You may purchase items from the Record Office and collect them in person.

Alternatively we can post items to UK mainland addresses or send by airmail.

Books about archaeology

Archaeology County Durham: Issue 10, 2015

This edition covers the work of the Archaeology Section at Durham County Council in 2014-15. Read about exciting archaeological work that sheds new light on County Durham's past and the lives of previous generations.

Issue 10 contains articles about recent excavations at Newton Aycliffe, Binchester, Darlington Town Hall, Durham Cathedral, Barnard Castle, Auckland Castle and Hamsterley Hall.

Reduced UK 2nd class postage rates apply when you buy two or three Archaeology magazines at the same time. £2 for two copies, £3 for three copies. Email Record Office for details.

Archaeology County Durham: Issue 12, 2017

This edition of Archaeology magazine covers the work of the Archaeology Section at Durham County Council in 2016-17. Read about exciting archaeological work that sheds new light on County Durham's past including the fantastic discoveries at Binchester Roman Fort.

Issue 12 contains eight articles about recent excavations at Binchester, Bishop Auckland, Chester-le-Street, Darlington, West Chilton and Wolsingham.

Reduced UK 2nd class postage rates apply when you buy two or three Archaeology magazines at the same time. £2 for two copies, £3 for three copies. Email Record Office for details.

Archaeology County Durham: Issue 13, 2018

This edition covers the work of the Archaeology Section at Durham County Council in 2017-18. Read about exciting archaeological work that sheds new light on County Durham's past and the lives of previous generations.

Issue 13 contains articles about recent excavations and research at Sedgefield; Binchester; Claypath, Durham; Auckland Castle; Piercebridge; Lanchester and Darlington; also news from the Scottish Soldiers Project and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Reduced UK 2nd class postage rates apply when you buy two or three Archaeology magazines at the same time. £2 for two copies, £3 for three copies. Email Record Office for details.

Archaeology County Durham: Issue 14, 2019

This edition covers the work of the Archaeology Section at Durham County Council in 2018-19. Read about exciting archaeological work that sheds new light on County Durham's past and the lives of previous generations.

Issue 14 contains articles about recent excavations at Binchester; Mountjoy, Durham and Hurworth-on-Tees; also investigations at Symmetry Park, Darlington; Durham Cathedral central tower; Auckland Castle and Lady Seaham colliery pithead, West Rainton; Portable Antiquities Scheme news.

Reduced UK 2nd class postage rates apply when you buy two or three Archaeology magazines at the same time. £2 for two copies, £3 for three copies. Email Record Office for details.

Archaeology County Durham: Issue 15, 2020

This edition covers the work of the Archaeology Section at Durham County Council in 2019-20. Read about exciting archaeological work that sheds new light on County Durham's past and the lives of previous generations.

Issue 15 contains articles about recent excavations at Binchester, Sedgefield, Bishop Middleham, and Auckland Castle's North Terrace and Bek's Chapel; Portable Antiquities Scheme news and an article on excavating the archives.

Reduced UK 2nd class postage rates apply when you buy two or three Archaeology magazines at the same time. £2 for two copies, £3 for three copies. Email Record Office for details.

Binchester Roman Fort: Guide Book

Binchester Roman Fort in County Durham has a rich and exciting history involving Roman soldiers, pagan Angles, and early Christian faith. Only a small proportion of the site has been excavated, and while much is known there is still a great deal to learn. The comparatively new technology of geophysical survey has shown in recent years just how much has yet to be investigated at this extremely important site.

The story of Binchester fort begins around 75 AD, over 1900 years ago. This booklet provides an introduction to the site and a visitor guide to an amazingly well-preserved site in parts where you can 'walk in the footsteps' of Roman legionary and auxiliary soldiers.

History in the Landscape: The archaeology and architecture of Weardale

Weardale has a long and exciting past. A hunting ground for the rich; a gateway to the underworld; border conflicts and a home fondly remembered from the other side of the world. Evidence of this past is etched out in its landscape and villages, waiting to be discovered.

This fascinating book, written by two leading archaeologists, seeks clues to this past from the prehistoric mysteries of Heathery Burn Cave through to the ancient origins of the villages and the growth of dissenting religions. It explores the struggle for power between one of the most powerful landowners in England - the Prince Bishop of Durham, and the inhabitants who eked out a living from this most enthralling Pennine dale.

Roman County Durham: The Eastern Hinterland of Hadrian's Wall

This is the first comprehensive study in print of County Durham during the Roman period. Perhaps overshadowed by Hadrian's Wall, the network of roads, forts and farming communities in its eastern hinterland formed a vital part of the infrastructure that supported the linear frontier and its garrisons, exerting a major influence upon the county's history and development.

The county's wealth of Roman military archaeology comprises seven forts with their attendant civilian settlements - including some of the best-preserved Roman buildings in Britain. Discoveries made in the last twenty years have transformed our understanding of life beyond the military communities...

Following publication on 17 May the book price is £37.50 (including packaging and delivery). UK orders only. Orders will be despatched in batches from the publisher so there may be a short delay between ordering and delivery.

Books about popular archive collections

Behind the wall: The life and times of Winterton Hospital

Winterton Hospital near Sedgefield in County Durham, formerly Durham County Mental Hospital and then Durham County Asylum, played an important role in the delivery of health care in County Durham for almost 140 years.

This book provides a rare insight into the unique community which formed within the hospital walls. Fully illustrated, it provides useful background for anyone researching ancestors who were patients or carers at the hospital.

Durham County Record Office holds the Winterton Hospital archives.

This book is now out of print but you can buy a facsimile colour version from us in pdf format. You will receive an email link to download a copy from a free file-share service. Please allow one working day for the email link to arrive.

Streatlam and Gibside: The Bowes and Strathmore Families in County Durham

Published to accompany an exhibition to commemorate the 80th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002), this book describes the background of the Bowes and Strathmore families and their contribution to the life of County Durham in their national and local historical context.

The book is illustrated and includes pedigrees of the Bowes of Streatlam family and the Earls of Strathmore.

The Bowes of Streatlam, County Durham: The Politics and Religion of a Tudor Gentry Family

This book traces the fortunes of the Bowes of Streatlam across the years of the Tudor regime. It examines a Durham gentry family attracted into the sphere of royal service, particularly in the fields of border administration and defence. The family's remarkable attachment to Protestantism, in an age when much of northern society remained notoriously conservative in religion, meant that its religious idealism came into conflict with its political ambitions on more than one occasion.

Books on aspects of local history

A Tyneside Heritage: South Shields, County Durham and the Chapman Family, 1811-1963

Spanning 150 years of South Shields' changing fortunes, A Tyneside Heritage is a pioneering work of interwoven local and family history.

After the 19th century boom years of coal exporting and shipbuilding for global markets came the First World War, then the mass unemployment and political turbulence of the 1930s. Luftwaffe bombing in the Second World War was followed by the peacetime challenge of attracting new industrial development.

Against this background, four generations of the Chapman family played a leading role in the town and in County Durham as businessmen, soldiers, borough councillors, sportsmen, philanthropists and representatives of royalty.

This book (RRP £25) is offered at a discounted price of £15.00 including postage.

C. Hodgson Fowler (1840-1910) Durham Architect, and his Churches

This short survey is dedicated to the memory of Charles Hodgson Fowler, a very significant churchman and architect whose reputation has lapsed into obscurity in recent times.

A pupil of George Gilbert Scott, Hodgson Fowler had an architectural practice in Durham city until his death. The bulk of his work was ecclesiastical and he designed several churches for the Durham coalfield in the 1860s. Examples of his work can be found in Co. Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

Durham Biographies Volume 1

Biographies of men and women who have made a significant contribution to the life of the region, as defined by the boundaries of pre-1974 County Durham and industrial Tyneside and Teesside in the 19th and 20th centuries, or who were residents and achieved fame outside the region. Includes a cumulative index to all previous volumes in the series.

Durham Biographies Volume 2

Biographies of men and women who have made a significant contribution to the life of the region, as defined by the boundaries of pre-1974 County Durham and industrial Tyneside and Teesside in the 19th and 20th centuries, or who were residents and achieved fame outside the region. Includes a cumulative index to all previous volumes in the series.

Durham Biographies Volume 3

Biographies of men and women who have made a significant contribution to the life of the region, as defined by the boundaries of pre-1974 County Durham and industrial Tyneside and Teesside in the 19th and 20th centuries, or who were residents and achieved fame outside the region. Includes a cumulative index to all previous volumes in the series.

Durham Biographies Volume 4

Biographies of men and women who have made a significant contribution to the life of the region, as defined by the boundaries of pre-1974 County Durham and industrial Tyneside and Teesside in the 19th and 20th centuries, or who were residents and achieved fame outside the region. Includes a cumulative index to all previous volumes in the series.

Durham Biographies Volume 6

Biographies of men and women who have made a significant contribution to the life of the region, as defined by the boundaries of pre-1974 County Durham and industrial Tyneside and Teesside in the 19th and 20th centuries, or who were residents and achieved fame outside the region. Includes a cumulative index to all previous volumes in the series.

Durham City and its M.P.s

A summary of the election results from the first election for the borough in 1678 to the general election of 1992, with brief biographical notes of those who represented the constituency in Parliament and those whom they defeated at the elections. There follows an outline sketch of the political history and geography of the Durham City constituency, and a list of all elections is followed by an alphabetical list of parliamentary candidates.

Durham and The Pilgrimage of Grace

An assessment of the role played by the men of Durham in the rebellion of 1536 and the subsequent revolts in 1537.

George Bowes' Canvassing Books for the Parliamentary By-election in the City of Durham, January 1729/30

Two canvassing books prepared specifically for a Durham City by-election in January 1730 contain the names of all the freemen entitled to vote.

This book reproduces the list of freemen of the City of Durham in 1730 (barbers, butchers, chandlers, cordwainers, drapers, dyers, fullers, goldsmiths, hatters, joiners, masons, mercers, saddlers, skinners, smiths, tanners and weavers). In total there are 1405 names, 819 of whom lived in the City and 586 who lived in the Country.

Joseph Bouet's Durham: drawings from the age of reform

This selection of the work of the French drawing master, Joseph Bouet shows the Durham of the 1830s in a new light. His previously unpublished drawings are part of Durham University Library's Archives and Special Collections.

The drawings show political reformers and reactionaries, judges and felons and some of the characters from both church and landed society who shaped early Victorian Durham and the development of its University.

Joseph Sebastien Victor Francois (Nicolas) Bouet (1791-1856) spent most of his adult life in Durham City working as a miniature portrait artist, caricaturist and topographical lithographer.

Memoirs of a Primitive Methodist: Eventide Memories and Recollections by Henry Green (1855-1932)

Henry Green was part of what he himself describes as the 'Great Migration' from rural to industrial communities which took place in the 1870s and 80s.

For most of his working life he was a Durham pitman in the Crook district, but even though he left at the age of 16, he always thought of rural Norfolk as 'home'. What gave his life continuity and coherence was his religion.

Memories of My Life in Tantobie in the Thirties

Memoir of the author's time growing up in a small pit village in County Durham.

One Hundred Years of Service: Durham County Council Centenary 1889-1989

After 1889 Durham County Council assumed responsibility for the administration of the county from its predecessor, the Quarter Sessions. The long industrial history of the county and its rapid expansion in the preceding half century meant that the newly-formed County Council had many difficult problems to solve, particularly the wretched living conditions of many of its people.

This guide covers the opening of the new Shire Hall in Old Elvet and the development of the services provided by the council, including Highways, Police, Analysts Department, Consumer Protection, Education, Social Services, County Library, Planning and Fire Brigade.

Some of the leading personalities among elected members and officers are mentioned, the most famous being Peter Lee, the first Labour chairman of the County Council.

Radical Politics in the North-East of England in the Later Eighteenth Century

An analysis of the radical challenge to the existing political and social order that emerged in the decades from the 1760s to the 1790s.

By focusing on the North East of England, with its mixture of rural hinterland and urban centres, this pamphlet attempts to give an indication of the strengths and weaknesses of radicalism in the late eighteenth century. The author considers the impact of the Middlesex election case of John Wilkes, the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, and the activities of the supporters of the Reverend James Murray and the members of the Constitution Club of Newcastle.

Seaham Harbour: The First Generation

Transcription of the enumerators' books for Dawdon Township - Easington Registrar's District 16A (HO 107/2392, folios 527-566) - in 1851, with additional details from Hagar and Co., "Directory of the County of Durham" (1851) and Isaac Slater, "Slater's Royal national directory..." (1855).

The City of Durham Town Hall

Durham Town Hall occupies the site of a mansion built as a palace for the Neville family, Earls of Westmorland, which was forfeited to the Crown in 1569 after the Rising of the North rebellion.

The new Town Hall, opened in 1851, incorporates the Guildhall, dating from 1356, and adjoining parts of the Old Town Hall.

Fully illustrated throughout, this colour guide covers the birth of Durham City, a plan of the building and descriptions of the Foyer, Crush Hall, Main Hall, Mayor's Chamber, Guildhall, Basement and Exterior.

The Courts of the County Palatine of Durham from earliest times to 1971

A study of the temporal law courts of Durham based on surviving rolls, and covering the local courts, courts of common law, justices of the peace and the court of Quarter Sessions, prerogative courts and the Durham Chancery.

The Durham Crown Lordships in the 16th and 17th Centuries and the Aftermath

A study of the three Durham lordships - Barnard Castle, Raby and Brancepeth - their management and the condition of their tenantry, with a more detailed account of the manor of Long Newton and its place in the lordship of Barnard Castle. That lordship had been confiscated from the Earls of Warwick in the late 15th century and the other two from the Earl of Westmorland after the rebellion of 1569. All three came under direct Crown administration until their disposal to the City of London in 1629.

The book examines the Crown's management policies relative to those of private and ecclesiastical landlords in respect of such matters as security of tenure, claims to "tenant right", level of rents and fines, conditions and length of leases and the problem of enclosure.

The Lost Mills: A History of Papermaking in County Durham

For at least a century and a half papermaking formed a significant part of the economy of County Durham, yet its existence has been largely ignored by industrial historians. The Lost Mills A History of Papermaking in County Durham is the definitive study of all the known mills in the county from the first recorded example in the 1670s to the closure of the largest mill in the north of England in 1980.

With painstaking research using frequently fragmentary records, Jean Stirk has pieced together the individual histories of 45 paper mills and set them in the context of both the changes in the regional economy and the wider history of the development of the papermaking industry in England. This is a pioneering study destined to put a long neglected industry back on the historical map of the county.

Family and local history indexes

Cemeteries in County Durham

A list of the local authority cemeteries and crematoria in the area of the historic county of Durham (i.e. the present county, the city of Sunderland, the boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool and Stockton on Tees, and the metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead and South Tyneside).

The cemeteries were opened from the middle of the nineteenth century to cope with the problem of increased population and resulting pressure on the existing parish graveyards, many of which were closed during this period.

This guide gives cemetery names and locations, opening dates and the location of the cemetery records, either in Durham County Record Office or elsewhere.

Durham Family History Gazetteer

A guide to the civil registration districts in County Durham, 1837-1938, and a list of the townships, villages, hamlets and other settlements in County Durham, indicating the Church of England ecclesiastical parish in which they were previously and are now included.

Durham Places in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

This index lists place names which appear on the Ordnance Survey, first edition, 6 inches to 1 mile maps of County Durham and part of Yorkshire (North Riding), 1854-1858.

County Durham was surveyed between 1855 and 1858 and is covered by 58 map sheets. That part of Yorkshire which became part of Durham, as a result of local government re-organisation in 1974, was surveyed in 1854 and is covered by 18 map sheets or parts.

Use the index to locate places on the appropriate maps. The information given for each place name includes the map sheet number, map quarter and the township (equating to the later civil parish).

Printed maps

Fact and Folklore in County Durham

A modern map showing historic sites and describing the rich heritage and folklore of County Durham.

Map of Durham parish and chapelry boundaries, circa 1800

A map of ecclesiastical parish boundaries at the beginning of the nineteenth century in the county of Durham and in that part of the North Riding of Yorkshire which was added to Durham in 1974. Inset map of Durham City parishes.

Map of the Bishoprick and Citie of Durham [1611]

Reproduction of Speed's map of County Durham, showing towns, villages, castles, parks, roads, rivers and hills. With engravings of the arms of the cathedral and the royal arms. Inset, a plan of the city of Durham, in top right corner, and a vignette of the battle of Neville's Cross, with descriptive text, in bottom right corner.

Map of the Bishoprick of Durham [1646/1652]

Reproduction of Jansson's map of County Durham, showing the towns, villages, castles, parks, rivers, bridges, and hills. With engravings of the royal arms and the arms of the palatinate of Durham. Title in a cartouche.