Norton

The monumental inscriptions in the churchyard of St. Mary have been transcribed, indexed and published by the Cleveland Family History Society.

"The population in 1801 was 965; in 1811, 1053; in 1821, 1186; in 1831, in consequence of the employment of a number of labourers on the railway works, it was 1486; in 1841, 1623; in 1851, 1725; in 1861, 2317; in 1871, 2842; in 1881, 3195; and in 1891, 3789."

From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan , London, 1894]

The 1851 Census Index (booklet 16) published by the Cleveland Family History Society may be of value to researchers interested in this parish.

"The Church - This ancient and venerable edifice, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, stands on a slight elevation near the village to the north. It is a cruciform structure, consisting of nave, transept - from the intersection of which springs the central tower - aisles, and chancel. The parts of the original building still remaining are said to belong to pre-Conquest or Saxon times, and the date of their erection is uncertain. These are the north and part of the south transepts, and the tower; but the massive piers and semicircular arches by which the latter is supported seem strongly to indicate an early Norman origin. The nave as it now stands was built during the Norman Transitional period, which prevailed from 1145 to 1190.

"The church has passed through many periods of restoration, the principal one being in the year 1876, carried out with questionable taste in the Tudor Gothic style. All the stained glass in the church is of modern date and of more than average excellence; the windows in the south wall of the chancel, representing incidents in the life of Bernard Gilpin, vicar of Norton, 1554, are of especial interest and value. Norton is the mother-church of the adjacent town of Stockton-on-Tees, and in 1237, when a chapel was erected at Stockton, the parishioners were permitted to have therein baptism, burial and all other ecclesiastical rights, but were still required to visit the mother-church at Norton on the feast of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin (the 15th of August) bringing with them their offerings."

[From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan , London, 1894]

There is a picture (57 kbytes) of the parish church of St. Mary, Norton; supplied by Kenneth Sherwood.

There is a larger picture (113 kbytes) of the Parish church of St. Mary; supplied by Kenneth Sherwood.

St. Mary's Parish Church.

"The parish register commences in 1574." [From History, Topography and Directory of Durham, Whellan , London, 1894]

The Parish Registers for the period 1574-1989 are deposited at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL (EP/Nor).

The Marriages (1754-1837) are included in the Joiner Marriage Index.

The following records for churches in the ancient parish of Norton are also available at Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UL:-

• Norton, St. Michael 1913-1975 (EP/Nor.SM).

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Norton to another place.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NZ443221 (Lat/Lon: 54.592257, -1.316128), Norton which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.