Durham Probate Records: pre 1858

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Introduction

	Geographical scope
	Contents
	Arrangement
	Related material - here
	Related material - elsewhere
	Bibliography

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Catalogue

• Original wills and associated documents
• Will registers
• Probate bonds
• Probate act books
• Commissions, monitions and citations
• Dean and Chapter of Durham's Allerton and Allertonshire peculiar
• Alphabet books
• Miscellaneous fragments and labels

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Geographical scope

The pre-1858 Durham probate jurisdiction dealt with the estates of those whose property lay solely within the diocese of Durham. The geographical range of the records of this jurisdiction is extensive because throughout this period the diocese of Durham covered most of the historic counties of both Durham and Northumberland, as well as small parts of Cumberland and Yorkshire. In addition, both the Bishop of Durham, and the Dean and Chapter of Durham cathedral, had probate jurisdiction over parts of Yorkshire in and around Northallerton.
The pre-1858 Durham Probate Records therefore cover the following areas (based on pre-1974 counties):

• Northumberland, except for Thockrington and Hexham/Hexhamshire (see below).

• County Durham

• Alston (with Garrigill and Nenthead chapelries) in Cumberland

• Crayke in Yorkshire (part of Durham diocese until 1837)

• Townships within the Bishop of Durham's Allertonshire peculiar in Yorkshire (see below), until 1845

• Townships within the Dean and Chapter's Allerton and Allertonshire peculiar in Yorkshire (see below), until 1845

The parts of Northumberland over which the Bishops of Durham did not have probate jurisdiction were as follows. Earlier probate records for these places are in the Borthwick Institute for Archives in York.

	Thockrington	Subject to the peculiar jurisdiction of a prebend of York Cathedral until ca.1846 (probate records 1846-1857 within DPR1)
	Hexham and Hexhamshire	A detached part of York diocese so subject to the probate jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York, until 1837. Hexham and Hexhamshire covered the parishes and chapelries of Allendale, Allenheads or Allendale St Peter, Bingfield St Mary, Carrshields (or High West Allen), Hexham, Ninebanks (or Low West Allen), St John Lee, St Oswald in Lee and Whitley chapel. Probate records 1837-1857 are within DPR1.

The two peculiar jurisdictions within Yorkshire covered the following parishes and chapelries. Both these peculiars were abolished in 1846, with jurisdiction transferred to the Archbishop of York. Probate records for 1846-1857 should therefore be at the Borthwick Institute for Archives in York.

	Bishop of Durham	Birkby, Cowesby, Hutton Bonville, Leake, Nether Silton, North Otterington, Osmotherley and Thornton-le-Street
	Dean and Chapter of Durham	Brompton, Deighton, High Worsall, Kirby Sigston, Northallerton and West Rounton

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Contents

Records of the pre-1858 probate jurisdiction administered through the consistory court of the Church of England diocese of Durham, and of the extra-diocesan ('peculiar') jurisdictions of the Bishop of Durham and of the Dean and Chapter of Durham within North Yorkshire. Surviving material from the Bishop of Durham's Allertonshire peculiar is within the main series of probate material for the diocese of Durham (DPR1/1-5,7-8), whereas material for the Dean and Chapter of Durham's Allerton and Allertonshire peculiar forms a separate sequence (DPR1/6, indexed in DPR1/7/7).

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Accession details

See collection-level description for accession details and previous custodial history.

Conditions of access

Open for consultation. See notes within collection-level description for further details.

Copyright and copying

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from University Library and Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. See notes within collection-level description for further details.

Arrangement

The separate series listed below reflect the original arrangement of the probate records when received from the District Probate Registry (with the exception of DPR1/8). Original wills and related documents in DPR1/1 were to some extent re-sorted after receipt (although the yearly bundles reflect the original arrangement), while the other classes are largely arranged as originally received.

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Finding aids

The bulk of the pre-1858 Durham Probate Records were catalogued as part of the North East Inheritance (NEI) project, 2006-2009. This catalogue is available online at https://familyrecords.awh.durham.ac.uk/nei/data/, and can be searched by name, place, occupation, date and/or document type.
Other finding aids for specific series are mentioned within the detailed list below.

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Copies

Most of these records were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU, part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons) before their deposit in Durham University Library. Although good quality, these microfilms are impracticable to use because individual items are not numbered or labelled. Other microfilms of specific items are mentioned within this catalogue as appropriate.
Digital images of most of the pre-1858 probate records have also been made by the GSU and are mounted online by them on their familysearch site, as noted within the list. Where the records have been catalogued within the North East Inheritance database, the catalogue entries link directly to the relevant digital images on familysearch.
Manuscript abstracts, transcripts and indexes are held by other local libraries and record repositories, including the following. These collections often contain details of probate documents the originals of which no longer survive.

• Durham Cathedral Library: Sharp MSS (especially 31-40, with an index in 37) and Raine MS 40.

• Northumberland Record Office: Raine's “Testamenta Dunelmensia”, fourteen volumes of manuscript extracts from and transcripts of some Durham wills etc., compiled by Canon James Raine senior (1791-1858) and his son James.

• Newcastle upon Tyne Central Library: H.M. Wood's manuscript transcript of Raine's “Testamenta Dunelmensia” in three volumes with an index, 1925.

• Newcastle upon Tyne Central Library: J.J. Howe's transcripts, six volumes of manuscript extracts from wills, administration bonds and probate act books from the diocese of Durham, 1576-1735, with an index.

Related material - here

Durham Cathedral archives Locellus VIII, nos. 1-20, 22, 33, 41, 42: wills and inventories from the Prior and Convent of Durham's Allerton and Allertonshire peculiar, c.1444-1531.
Other medieval wills within the cathedral archives include the following (some of which were proved in the Bishop of Durham's consistory court), though this list is not comprehensive.

• Original wills among Specialia deeds: 1.1.Spec.64, 70, 71; 2.3.Spec.58, 64; 4.3.Spec.3, 25; 4.11.Spec.33 tag; 1.15.Spec.3; 3.15.Spec.6;1.16.Spec.69; 2.16.Spec.20; 4.17.Spec.30; 1.18.Spec.41; 3.18.Spec.42; 4.18.Spec.88

• Original wills among Eboracensia deeds: 1.2.Ebor.10; 1.5.Ebor.30

• Original wills among Elemosinaria deeds: 4.4.Elem.17

• Original wills among Miscellaneous Charters: Misc.Ch.457, 2243/4, 2305, 2438, 2532, 4793

• Original wills among Locelli (in addition to Locellus VIII as above): Loc.XXXVII:7-16

• Registered copies of wills: Reg.II f.80r; (?) Reg.V f.213v, 235r; Reg.Hat. f.v(v), 45r, 47r, 50r, 133v, 139v; Cart.II f.302r-v; Cart.IV f.219r-v; Alm.rntls & cart. f.105

• Other: Misc.Ch.6782 (ref only), Misc.Ch.7130 (formula only)

Durham Diocesan Records Records of litigation relating to probate matters are generally found not in the Durham Probate Records but among the consistory court act books and cause papers in the Durham Diocesan Records. The wills (and a few inventories) that survive within the consistory court cause papers are included within the North East Inheritance database.
Other collections An incomplete card index to wills etc within other collections can be made available by advance arrangement within the Palace Green library search room.

Related material - elsewhere

Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York Prior to 1858 probate matters concerning the estates of deceased persons holding property in more than one diocese were dealt with by either the Prerogative Court of York (PCY), if the property lay entirely within the Northern Province of the Church of England, or the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), for estates situated in the Southern Province of the Church of England or scattered throughout the country. The records of the PCY are in the Borthwick Institute for Archives.
Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York: Durham University Library holds a bound photocopy of a manuscript “Index of York wills [in the Borthwick Institute] probably relating to Hexham & Hexhamshire [in Northumberland], 1688-1745, 1746-1799”. This index and its introduction were originally prepared by the late Dr. K. Mitchell (died 1994) and the introduction was updated by the staff of the Borthwick Institute in March 1994. A microfiche copy of the index (issued in 1994) is available from the Northumberland and Durham Family History Society. (For Hexham and Hexhamshire wills see Administrative etc. history).
The National Archives, Kew The records of the PCC (see above under Borthwick Institute) are in the National Archives. Durham University Library holds copies of various published indexes of PCC wills etc.
Wills from the Commonwealth period, during which ecclesiastical courts were abolished and there was briefly a centralised system of testamentary jurisdiction for the whole country under a Court of Civil Commission. There are printed indexes to Commonwealth wills in the Index Library series. Durham University Library holds a typescript index of Commonwealth wills for Northumberland and Co. Durham, 1649-1660, compiled in 1909 for J.W. Robinson by Mrs. Trentham, with additions by R.H. Leighton.
Cumbria Record Office Howard of Naworth Papers, volume 44/16 (temporary DUL reference) contains copies of “manorial wills” for Cumberland, c.1839-1866. These are copies of wills proved in various registries which contain references to properties within the Howard manors, chiefly in the Barony of Gilsland.

Bibliography

A bibliography, with links to online full texts where available, is held on our North East Inheritance project pages.

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Catalogue

Original wills and associated documents
DPR1/1   1540-1857
137 metres   
Original wills, filed by year of probate (using mainly old-style years pre-1752). Within each year the wills are arranged according to the surname of the testator. Filed with the wills, in cases where they survive, are inventories of the deceased person's goods (until about the 1720s only), and executors' accounts (mainly for the 16th century, in some other cases accounts are written at the end of the inventory). Other miscellaneous documents such as renunciations or commissions etc are also occasionally found with the wills, although many such documents are stored with the executors' bonds within DPR1/3 below.
In addition to the wills proved in Durham, this series includes any inventories or accounts that survive, where these were originally associated with administration bonds (for those who died intestate). In these cases, the administration bonds themselves were filed in a separate sequence, now under DPR1/3 below.
The wills, inventories and other documents within this series are listed within separate online files as follows (based on the dates of probate or administration), though for most purposes a search of the North East Inheritance database will be more helpful.

Will registers
DPR1/2    1527-1858 (mainly 1550s-1858 with gaps, especially during 17th century)
6 metres   
Volumes (except as stated), containing registered copies of wills proved in the diocese of Durham. In addition to copies of wills the registers up to the early 17th century also contain copies of some inventories, and also grants of administration. Earlier registers each cover a span of years but from the mid-1820s there is generally one register per year. The date spans refer to the date, or assumed date, of the grants of probate and administration for each deceased person whose documents are transcribed into the register, rather than to the date of the creation of the original documents themselves. There are indications that the registers were occasionally compiled some months or even years after probate or administration had been granted. Within each register the contents are usually arranged chronologically according to the date of probate of the will. A record's presence in a particular register can usually be taken as a guide to a probate or administration date, and exact dates can often be found in surviving probate act books (DPR1/4 below). The registers include copies of some wills etc of which the originals no longer survive.
Language:  Mainly English, with some Latin up to 1730s
Many probate registers have been indexed by names of testators, either by contemporary ecclesiatical court officers or by their civil probate court successors for business purposes. All the entries within the registers are included within the North East Inheritance database online, excepting entries from DPR1/2/1-7 (to 1613) which were excluded from the initial database but should be added during 2024/25. A card index within the Barker Research Library at Palace Green Library includes entries within these early registers.
Detailed lists of the contents of the registers can be found in the following catalogues though for most purposes a search of the North East Inheritance database will prove more useful.
Not all the volumes are numbered on their spines. The remaining volumes were numbered in 2003, prior to their digitisation by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU).

Probate bonds
Reference: DPR1/3
Dates of creation: 1555-1556 (two only) and 1565-1858 (with gaps, especially in 16th-17th centuries)
Extent: 54 metres The bonds for each year are in separate numerical sequences which were devised before the deposit of the material with the university; sometimes but not always these run chronologically. From 1739 onwards the bonds are divided into two numerical sequences for each year, one consisting of administration bonds (relating to the estates of intestates) and the other primarily of will bonds (relating to executorships). Filed with the will bonds are also some tuition and curation bonds (relating to the appointment of guardians for minors), and a few non-probate (chiefly sequestration) bonds.
No probate bonds survive for the following [old-style] years: 1540-1554, 1557-1564, 1567, 1569-1575, 1578-1582, 1584, 1588, 1590-1591, 1594-1596, 1600, 1606, 1609-1612, 1614-1615, 1622, 1626-1628, 1634-1635, 1646-1647, 1650-1659, 1661-1663, 1665, 1669, 1672, 1678-1679, 1682.
Only a few probate bonds survive for the following [old-style] years: 1555-1556, 1568, 1592-1593, 1597-1599, 1601-1602, 1604-1605, 1607-1608, 1613, 1617, 1620-1621, 1623, 1631-1633, 1636, 1641, 1643, 1660, 1666, 1668, 1683-1684.
The probate bonds within this series are listed in a chronological series though for most purposes a search of the North East Inheritance database will be more helpful. In particular, abodes of the deceased are frequently not stated within the above lists although included in the NEI database. However, the lists include entries for the various illegible fragments and the few non-probate items found within the series.
Although most of the probate bonds from the Bishop of Durham's Allertonshire peculiar are filed in the main series of probate bonds there is also a separate small batch of such bonds, 1732-1768, among the Durham Diocesan Records at DDR/P/ALP/1. One earlier Allertonshire bond for 1555 is kept with the 1555 wills.
The non-probate material chiefly concerns sequestrations of benefice income (granted to churchwardens during vacancies). See the Durham Diocesan Records for other sequestration records, and for background information.

Probate act books
DPR1/4   1571-1577, 1577-1587, 1598, 1599-1653, 1660-1668, 1724-1735, 1776-1778, 1780-1800 and 1809-1858
2 metres   
Volumes recording grants of probate and administration by the Durham ecclesiastical (consistory) court, and instance and office testamentary business, with many gaps in the series. They also contain acts of the court when sitting in various places outside the consistory court and acts commissioned by the court and enacted by surrogates. Also a box of unbound consistory court acts, dealing almost entirely with probate matters, 1850-1859. At certain periods separate probate act books were not kept; instead acts relating to testamentary matters were recorded in other volumes among the Durham Diocesan Records, chiefly in the main series of consistory court act books at DDR/EJ/CCA.
Language:  In Latin until 26 March 1733, thereafter in English
Many of the act books have been indexed, either by contemporary ecclesiatical court officers or by their civil probate court successors for business purposes. Additionally some typescript indexes have been created by Durham University archivists, which are kept on the search room shelves (at ASCRef Z DPR) as noted below: these all index both deceased persons and places within a single sequence. Finally the North East Inheritance (NEI) database contains some references to the probate act books, linking these acts to other probate records in the DPR1 collection, although none of the act books are comprehensively indexed within the NEI database.
Many consistory court act books among the Durham Diocesan Records contain details of the the proving of wills similar to the information recorded in this series. In particular volumes DDR/EJ/CCA/1/16, 18 and 20, 1666-1734, relate solely to testamentary business. A consolidated list of volumes containing records of probate grants and administrations is in the Palace Green library search room at ASCRef Z DPR.

Commissions, monitions and citations
DPR1/5   1650-1732 and 1753-1857 (with gaps)
21 metres   
Any surviving commissions etc. for the pre-1650 period and for 1733-1752 will be found with the series of original wills. These commissions etc. were generated during the court proceedings relating to the grant of probate and administration. The pre-1797 documents are chiefly in chronological order but after that date most of them are unsorted. Commissions are authorisations to carry out particular acts, usually administration of an oath to an executor or administrator of an estate. Monitions are usually general summonses to kindred or others with an interest in a will or administration of an estate. Citations are summonses usually to a specific person, sometimes to anyone concerned, to appear in an ecclesiastical court for some specific purpose.

Dean and Chapter of Durham's Allerton and Allertonshire peculiar
DPR1/6   1670-1808
2.5 metres   
Two series of probate records relating to places in the Dean and Chapter of Durham's Allerton and Allertonshire peculiar, as follows:

• original wills, inventories and executors' bonds, 1681-1845 (with some gaps in the series

• administration bonds and associated inventories, 1670-1808 (no bonds for 1809-1845 appear to survive, the six bonds listed in DPR1/7/7 not having been located)

The documents within this series are listed within a separate online file, though for most purposes a search of the North East Inheritance database will generally be more helpful.

Alphabet books
DPR1/7   1540-1858
0.5 metre   
Manuscript lists of names of deceased persons, arranged by initial letter of surnames (and within each letter, in yearly groups of wills and administration bonds). In the first instance only original wills and bonds were listed, but some later annotations indicate when an inventory survives and, for certain periods, the deceased person's place of abode, when this can be ascertained. Note that some of the documents mentioned within these lists, particularly bonds, no longer survive.
Except as otherwise stated in the list below, these volumes relate to wills proved and administrations granted within the bishop of Durham's consistory court or registry (including wills from the bishop's Allertonshire peculiar, but excluding those from the Dean and Chapter's peculiar).
Copies can be made from microfilms of DPR1/7/1-5 (ref 5TC 192-196), and these films are also available for consultation in various local libraries and repositories, including Cleveland Archives Department, Middlesbrough and Newcastle upon Tyne Central Library. Copies are also held by the Society of Genealogists in London and the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU).
Digital photographs of DPR1/7/1-5 are also held by the GSU. These are available for use within Durham University only, but for all practical purposes as a finding aid are superceded by the online North East Inheritance database.

Miscellaneous fragments and labels
Reference: DPR1/8
Extent: 2 metres