More Northumbrian Congregations

Abstract

The congregations which I have chosen to study here are those of Alnwick, Ellingham, Haggerston, Berrington and Berwick; the materials used are those described in an earlier essay, published in Recusant History in April 1967. They are: the returns of papists of 1767 and 1780; the religious census of 1851, districts of Alnwick (no. 559), Belford (560) and Berwick (561); the registers of Roman Catholic estates for Northumberland (Surtees Society, cxxxi, 1918) and Durham (ibid., clxxiii, 1958); and the mission registers and allied documents. None of these last are published. They consist: for Alnwick, of the baptismal registers (including confirmations and some marriages), 1794-1840 (PRO R.G. 4, nos. 1572 and 3911); for Ellingham, of baptismal registers (confirmations, marriages, deaths), 1779-1840 (R.G. 4, nos. 2483 and 2915), and an almost complete set of annual Easter communion lists, 1811-40 (originals in R.C. presbytery, Seahouses, Northumberland); for Haggerston,of baptismal registers (some marriages), 1790-1830 (R.G. 4, no. 1802), a register of deaths, and of Easter communicants, 1834-56 (originals in R.C. presbytery, Lowick, Northumberland); for Berrington, of the baptismal register, 1804-16 (R.G. 4, no. 2482); for Berwick, of baptismal registers, 1804-40 (R.G. 4, no. 1402). For knowledge of, and access to, such of these mission records as are not deposited in the Public Record Office, and for numerous other kindnesses, I am deeply indebted to Fr. W. Vincent Smith of Lanchester. Co. Durham.