Durham Record Office

Durham County Record Office: the official archive service for County Durham and Darlington

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Ask us

Records staff at Durham Police Headquarters, 1968 (D/X 1520/756)

While our search room and enquiry service are closed, this section will help you to find quick answers to common questions, including where else you may be able to access the information you need.

The information below also indicates what types of enquiry we will not respond to and gives examples of the types of legal requests we will respond to following a request for information.  Please note that this list is not exhaustive.

Birth and baptism

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about baptism entries where they are needed for legal purposes, to support a school’s admission process or for a marriage ceremony.

To order a copy of a birth certificate (for births from 1837 onwards) search Registrars Certificates and apply to the County of Durham Registration Service. See more about birth, marriage and death records and civil registration.

See more about parish registers and nonconformist church registers.

Marriage

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about marriage entries where they are needed for legal purposes or where there is a legal requirement to do so.

To order a copy of a marriage certificate (for marriages from 1837 onwards) search Registrars Certificates and apply to the County of Durham Registration Service. See more about birth, marriage and death records and civil registration.

See more about parish registers and nonconformist church registers.

Divorce

We do not hold information about Divorce and will not respond to enquiries until we reopen.

How to get a copy of a decree absolute or final order.

See more about divorce records.

Death, burial and cremation

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about burial or cremation entries where they are needed for legal purposes or to identify a plot for interment.

To order a copy of a death certificate (for deaths from 1837 onwards) search Registrars Certificates and apply to the County of Durham Registration Service.

See more about birth, marriage and death records and civil registration.

See more about parish registers, nonconformist church registers, and cemetery and crematorium records.

Find a grave

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about finding a grave where they are needed for legal purposes or to identify a plot for interment.

Many people contact us because they are searching for the location of an ancestor’s grave. This can be more complicated than you expect. Here are a few points to remember.

Someone who has died may have been:

  • buried in a church graveyard
  • buried in a public cemetery
  • cremated at a public crematorium

You may have to search several different types of record to find them.

To make it harder, these records are held in several different places by:

  • the church which manages the facility
  • the local council which manages the facility
  • the local archive services covering County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Teesside

A death certificate will tell you where a person died and the cause of death but not where they were buried or cremated.

People who were buried did not always have a headstone, and many headstones have been damaged or removed over time. There are many indexes to the monumental inscriptions on headstones in church graveyards.

Most burial and cremation registers survive, which will help you to confirm a burial or cremation at a named churchyard, cemetery or crematorium. Fewer grave plans survive to help you establish an exact location or plot.

Remember that the people who managed burial grounds in the past could never have foreseen the huge interest today in finding an exact grave location for an ancestor. Many grave plans have been lost through time, forgotten after a churchyard was closed or not handed on to the next responsible officer. Some information was probably never written down.

See more about cemetery and crematorium records and grave plans.

Find a will

We will not respond to enquiries about wills until we reopen.

To find a County Durham will proved before 11 January 1858 search the North East Inheritance database (pre-1858 Durham Probate Records).

To find a will proved from 1858 onwards in a civil probate registry use the Gov.uk: Search probate records or find a will service.

See more about wills.

Find a coroner’s report for a death from unknown, violent or unnatural causes

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about coroner’s reports where they are needed for legal purposes.

See information about the coroners records we keep.

Find where someone lives, now or in the past

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about where someone lived.

Census records from 1841 to 1921 will show everyone living at a given address. Search the census on popular family history websites such as Ancestry and Findmypast. You can access the Ancestry website free in all County Durham libraries.

Electoral registers from 1832 onwards list everyone entitled to vote at a given address.

See more about electoral registers for County Durham and electoral registers in general.

Land tax assessments from 1759 to 1831 list landowners and occupiers in a given township. Addresses are rarely given. Names are indexed on our online catalogue.
See more about land tax assessments.

Contact information for Durham County Council electoral services is on the Register to vote page.

Find ancestors who served in The Durham Light Infantry (DLI)

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about ancestors who served in The Durham Light Infantry (DLI).

To research soldiers who served in the First World War (WW1) or Second World War (WW2) see our guides:

Check Library Online – Durham County Council for books that you can borrow from the local library service.

See more about Durham Light Infantry Archives.

The National Archives (TNA) holds information about Regiments of the British Army and also of individuals who served in the Armed Forces (TNA information guides on the Army)

Find ancestors who were miners

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about ancestors who were miners.

Search Mining Durham’s Hidden Depths, our index to miners working in the Durham coalfield, containing over 229,000 entries.

See colliery personnel records, coal mining and Durham collieries, and browse or search our Durham collieries database.

Find ancestors in the police force

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about ancestors who were in the police force.

See our guides to police records and law and order.

Find someone in prison or sentenced by the courts

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about someone in prison or who was sentenced by the courts where they are needed for legal purposes.

See our guides to prison records and law and order.

Find someone in Winterton County Asylum or a hospital

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about someone in Winterton County Asylum or a hospital where they are needed for legal purposes or where there is a legal requirement to do so.

See information about County Durham and Darlington hospital records, including Winterton Hospital, the County Asylum at Sedgefield which opened in 1858 and apply using our research service.

Find ancestors in workhouses

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about ancestors who were in the workhouse.

The workhouses established by the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 operated until 1929, when the care of poor people in County Durham was transferred to the county council’s Public Assistance institutions. The survival of poor law records for County Durham is quite limited.

See our guides to the poor law and poor law records.

Find school and exam records

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about someone at school where they are needed for legal purposes.

We don’t keep school examination board certificates at the Record Office. Find where to go for replacement certificates at Exams, tests and assessments – Durham County Council.

See more about the school records we keep.

Find out about a town or village

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about a town or village.

See our guide to house history and local history sources.

Check Local Studies libraries in the North East and Libraries in County Durham.

Find out about a specific building

While we are closed, we will not respond to enquiries about a specific building unless there is a legal need to do so.

Our guides to house history and local history sources and building control plans will help you to research a specific building, or start by searching historic maps on our interactive mapping application. If you are researching a historic building check the Keys to the Past website provided by the council’s archaeology service.

Find building plans

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about building plans where they are needed for legal purposes or a planning application.

Use our guide to building control plans to assess what records are available. The process to locate a specific building plan is often complex.

Find vintage vehicle registration records

While we are closed, we will only respond to enquiries (including the supply of copies) about vehicle registration where there is a need for legal purposes or to register a vehicle.

Our guide to vehicle registration records summarises the registration marks covered by registers or cards we hold. To order a copy of an original vehicle registration record so you can send it to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), please ask for a certified copy. Only certified copies are accepted by DVLA as proof of original registration.

How to order copies

Our copying service is suspended until we reopen at The Story.

How to contact us while we are closed

While we will monitor our email inbox periodically, we will not respond to your email unless there is a legal basis for us to do so.

If you prefer to phone us, please leave a voicemail message. Our mailbox will show that you have left a message.

We will remain fully closed until our move to The Story is completed.