Whickham, Durham
Historical Description
Whickham, a village and a parish in Durham. The village lies 1 mile SE of Swallwell station on the N.E.R., and 3½ WSW of Gateshead, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Swallwell (R.S.O.) It is beautifully situated on an eminence on the S bank of the Tyne, and between 300 and 400 feet above the level of the sea. The parish contains also Swallwell and Dunston, and several other large villages and hamlets. Acreage, 5913 of land and 63 of water; population, 9143. It is governed by a district council. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. Gibside House is a fine mansion on the banks of the Derwent, and contains a Doric pillar 140 feet high in its grounds. Dunston Lodge is now a private lunatic asylum. There are steel-works, paper-mills, fire-brick and sanitary pipe works. A stratum of burnt earth at the W end of the village is said to have resulted from the slow combustion of a surface seam of coal, and is used for making ornamental paths. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham; gross value, £666 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church of St Mary, excepting the S wall and the tower, was rebuilt in 1862. It is an ancient building in the Norman and Transition styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, and a low embattled western tower, containing a clock and six bells, three of which were presented in 1889. There are monuments to the Claverings, and several stained windows. Population of the ecclesiastical parish of St Mary, 3919. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. Dunston with Lowside constitutes a separate ecclesiastical parish.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | County Durham | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Whickham St. Mary | |
Poor Law union | Gateshead | |
Ward | Chester |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Whickham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Whickham (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for County Durham is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Whickham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering county Durham online: