Research Service
Durham County Record Office uses professional researchers who are experts in their field to provide this service.
The minimum charge is £35
for one hour’s research. This includes a report on the records searched plus copies of any documents we find.
We advise you to start by paying for one hour. In our report of what we have searched we will say if more time is needed to complete the work. There is no obligation to pay for additional research time.
We will respond to your enquiry by email.
Before you apply
The £35
search fee is not refundable. If you are not sure that we hold the records you want us to search, please email the Record Office first to check.
Apply for birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates separately, from County of Durham Registration Service.
Check what Church Registers we keep.
Contact us
Other ways to apply
Please note that any questions marked with a * are mandatory.
Have you already contacted us about this search*
Have you contacted us before about using our research service?
Example: ...R1000 3 July 2017
What you want us to search for*
You can only enter up to 4000 characters.
Document reference
You can only enter up to 500 characters.
What you have searched already
You can only enter up to 4000 characters.
Sending additional information
Please include any additional information (for example a copy of a photo, certificate or family tree) as an attachment. You may include attachments in Word, Excel, PDF or jpg format. Each attachment must be less than 5MB.
Additional information should be relevant and concise to make the most of the research time you pay for.
Copyright declaration*
Copies of any documents we send you are supplied solely for research for a non-commercial purpose or private study. You cannot share or reproduce these copies online or in any other format without the permission of Durham County Record Office.
Terms and Conditions
I declare that
(a) I have not previously been supplied with a copy of the same material by you or any other archivist or librarian;
(b) I will not use the copy except for research for a non-commercial purpose or private study and will not supply a copy of it to any other person;
(c) to the best of my knowledge no other person with whom I work or study has made or intends to make at or about the same time as this request a request for substantially the same material for substantially the same purpose;
(d) I do not judge it to be an infringement of copyright to receive the copy;
(e) (unpublished manuscripts only) to the best of my knowledge the work had not been published before the document was deposited in your archive and the copyright owner had not prohibited copying of the work.
I understand that if the declaration is false in a material particular the copy supplied to me will be an infringing copy and that I shall be liable for infringement of copyright as if I had made the copy myself.
I understand that I cannot reproduce any copies I receive in any format (hard copy/digital/online), now or in the future, without first applying for permission from Durham County Record Office.
Disclaimer
It is not always possible to find or verify information due to the nature of the records, and while every effort will be made to provide accurate and complete information, Durham County Council cannot be responsible for any errors and omissions.
Pay for research