Place:South Gosforth, Northumberland, England

In the middle of the 19th century South Gosforth and Coxlodge were the most urban and the most southern townships of the ancient parish of Gosforth.

By order of the Local Government Board on 20 September 1872, the parishes of South Gosforth and Coxlodge were constituted into a district, governed by the South Gosforth Local Board. After the 1894 Local Government Act, the board became the South Gosforth Urban District Council. A year later, by a Northumberland County Council order dated 14 March 1895, the title was changed again to Gosforth Urban District Council.

The parishes of Coxlodge and South Gosforth were amalgamated into the parish of Gosforth in 1908.

The Gosforth Urban District Council was finally abolished on 1 April 1974 to become part of the City of Newcastle Metropolitan Borough Council.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of South Gosforth from John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles of 1887:

"South Gosforth, town with [railway station] (Gosforth), Gosforth [parish], Northumberland, 2 miles N. of Newcastle, population: 4,126; [post office], [telegraph office], called Gosforth; comprises the townships of South Gosforth and Coxlodge, and is a local government district."

Research Tips

• Northumberland Archives previously known as Northumberland Collections Service and Northumberland County Record Office. Now based within Woodhorn Museum in Ashington and providing free access to numerous records for local and family historians alike.

Full postal address: Museum and Northumberland Archives, Queen Elizabeth II Country Park, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9YF; Phone: 01670 624455

There is a branch office in Berwick upon Tweed.

• Northumberland and Durham FHS covers both Northumberland and County Durham. The Family History Society have a research centre in Percy House in central Newcastle upon Tyne (full address on website), open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1832 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time. This map includes the boundaries of the various Wards (or "hundreds") in existence at that time.
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Northumberland 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, particularly helpful in large towns and cities.
• Unfortunately, there is no Victoria County History for Northumberland.