Blackhill cemetery is in two parts separated by Durham Road. The old graveyard is located to the South of Durham Road, Blackhill and the new graveyard to the North: see (plans of Blackhill Cemetery) (19 KB).

The Burial records from May 1862 to Feb 1998 are contained in 14 volumes which can be consulted at Derwentside District Council Offices, Medomsley Road, Consett during office hours. They are in date order and each volume has a roughly alphabetical surname index. These records have been microfilmed by the LDS and a copy of this microfilm can be viewed at Durham Records Office; there is no overall index to accompany the microfilm. You need to have an accurate idea of the surnames for which you are looking (including variations), dates and number of burials in order to access either of these sources - not easy.

The burials between May 21st. 1862 and Aug. 15th. 1962 have been transcribed into an Access database. These comprise 27,345 records and are the subject of this section.

The database contains a huge amount of demographic information for this area over the 100 year period covered. Some of this is shown on the site where it is relevant to Genealogical research (see Occupations and Ministers). However, the main purpose of the site is to identify individuals through family surnames and to present these individuals in some form of related grouping.

To facilitate this a Surname/Frequency Index (572 KB) has been produced. This shows a complete listing of surnames/variants which are included in the records, and the number of times they occur. It is worth mentioning at this point that while all of the pdf.s on this site are easily read and navigated on your computer and do not need to be printed out, this is one file which you may find easier and more useful to peruse as a printed version. By interrogating the database for specific chosen surnames abstracted from this listing the Burial Records Report by Surname (99KB) can be produced. A detailed explanation of the various categories of information contained in these reports is given in the Notes on Registers and database (108KB). One vital point illustrated by these notes is the necessity to check all possible spellings of a surname. Incidentally, if you are researching Conlogue burials in Blackhill, this is a complete listing.

Monumental Inscriptions are a good source of corroborative information in Family research and often contain information not found elsewhere, as can be seen in Blackhill Monumental Inscriptions. Old Graveyard (South) (1.32MB). The notes at the beginning of these transcriptions will repay reading since they describe the conventions used and the quickest ways to search the file. The transcription of the M.I.s in the new graveyard is ongoing and they will be uploaded when complete.

You wll probably find at least some of the information in these pdf.s of use if you are doing your own hands-on research into Blackhill burial records. Feel free to download them to your computer to read offline - they are quite voluminous.

It was mentioned above that there is no overall index to Blackhill burial records. However, an index for the 100 years covered by the database has been produced and copies in pdf. form, together with the alphabetical surname frequency listing, have been given to Derwentside District Council and Durham Records Office. If you are searching either the Registers or the microfilm you will find both of these of use. The index runs to 169 pages. It is not included on the site since it is only of use in conjunction with the microfilm or Registers.

If you prefer to have searches done from this site then see Database Searches.

See Shotley panorama.

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