Place:Thockrington, Northumberland, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Thockrington is a village in Northumberland, England. The village lies in the west of the county, about 10 miles (16 km) north of Hexham.

Thockrington church, which stands so prominently on a spur of the Great Whin Sill, is one of the oldest churches in the county. The church is dedicated to St Aidan.

Here are buried several members of the ancient family of Shafto, the earliest mention of whom is in 1240. The Shaftos lived at nearby Bavington until the eighteenth century when, as a result of their support of the Jacobite cause in 1715, their estates were confiscated by the Crown, and ultimately sold to a Delaval. The Shaftos also had connections with the county of Durham and lived on their Durham estates until 1953, when a family member returned to Bavington Hall.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Thockrington from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"THOCKRINGTON, a parish, with four townships, in Bellingham [registration] district, Northumberland; 4¾ miles NNE of Chollerton [railway] station, and 10 N by E of Hexham. Post town: Hexham. Acres: 6,943. Real property: £3,064. Population: 166. Houses: 36. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Durham. Value: £228. Patron: the Bishop of [Durham]. The church is ancient.

Thockrington was an ancient parish in the Tynedale Ward which also became a civil parish in the 19th century. From 1894 it was part of Bellingham Rural District. In 1955 the civil parish was abolished and the area was absorbed into the newly-formed civil parish of Bavington.

Townships in Parish

• Carrycoats
• Little Bavington
• Sweethope

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.