In a message dated 13/02/2004 05:41:12 GMT Standard Time, helenh48@westnet.com.au writes: > I have a marriage cert. which says Newcastle on Tyne, Parish of St > Nicholas. > > I have had a look at the Durham Records Office web site and there are more > than one St Nicholas so I looked for New Castle on Tyne but could only see St > Nicholas in Durham as a possible. > > Would that be the one?  Would someone living in Tanfield and Pittington go > there to get married? >        St Nicholas is one of what are generally regarded as four ancient (ie pre-1600) parishes of Newcastle.  I put it that way because in theory the other three (St John, St Andrew and All Saints) are officially Parochial Chapelries of St Nicholas.  Only the Vicar of St Nicholas was entitled to call himself "The Vicar of Newcastle".  When the county of Northumberland was separated from Durham Diocese by the church in 1882, to become a Diocese of its own, it was Newcastle St Nicholas which became the Cathedral Church of the new Diocese, which was therefore called the Diocese of Newcastle, and it remains Newcastle Cathedral to this day.  Newcastle also has a RC Cathedral, St Mary's, centre of the RC Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.        The registers of Newcastle St Nicholas are deposited in Northumberland County Record Office Morpeth Record Centre).  Those to 1812 were transcribed about a century ago by Herbert Maxwell Wood and are included in the Wood transcripts in Newcastle Central Library (microfilms in the Moorpeth Records Centre and available to buy on microfiche from Northfiche, 38 Archery Rise, Neville's Cross, Durham, DH1 4LA).  Marriages 181333-37 are in the NDFHS 1813/37 Northumberland Marriage Index (microfiche: see their web site), burials 1813-37 are indexed on microfiche by Original Indexes.  The BTs from the 1760s to (at least) 1837 are in Durham University Library, Archives and Special Collections.  The MIs have been published on microfiche by Original Indexes.  Full details of the church's long and interesting history are in all the Histories of Newcastle and its famous lantern tower is as much a symbol of Newcastle as is the   shape of the Tyne Bridge or of the (Gateshead) Millennium Bridge, being silhouetted on every Newcastle Brown Ale label!        There are many other local churches dedicated to St Nicholas, such as those of Gosforth and Cramlington in Northumberland and of Durham in Co Durham.  Given that St Nicholas is the patron saint of merchants, it is not surprising to find his churches in town market places, as in Newcastle (end of the Bigg/Cloth/Groat Market area) and in Durham City (where St Nicholas' was/is the "central" church of the City and a feature of Durham Market Place).        However, marriages were not held just wherever the persons concerned fancied having it.  By tradition they were always in the parish of which the bride was a resident (I was reading only in this morning's newspaper an article which said that the C of E is currently considering relaxing that rule!).  The main exception was where the wedding was by licence.  Then the couple could take the licence to any church in the Diocese and more or less demand to be married there, even though the licence was usually "directed at" a particular church.  If a man from Pittington Parish or from Tanfield Chapelry was married in eitiher Durham St  Nicholas, Newcastle St Nicholas or any other St Nicholas, the usual reason would be because his bride was living in that parish at the time of the wedding (note: that says absolutely nothing at all about where she had been born: it is the place of residence at the time of marriage which counts).        When reading documents we do need to put ourselves as far as we can in the position of the person who wrote them.  If a document originating in Durham City says "St Nicholas" then it probably means "Durham St  Nicholas".  If one originating in Newcastle says "St Nicholas" then it probably means Newcastle St Nicholas.                           Geoff Nicholson 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU (0191 417 9546) Professional Researcher NBL & DUR. Local research in depth by the local expert. NEW: - Record Searches: you specify the records, I search them!