Jenny: I'm not sure whether Leasingthorne ever became - or is - a Church of England ecclesiastical parish in its own right, but in 1720 it definitely was not. At that time there were really only the old "ancient" parishes in existence - that is, those existing in 1600. Very few new parishes were created until the mid-19th century, when industrialisation created concentrations of population in places which even the Church of England could not ignore. Other denominations, such as the various Connexions of the Methodists, were much quicker in catering for those places and the typical 19th century pit village, for instance, probably had a Wesleyan Methodist Church at one end and a Primitive Methodist one at the other, with the nearest C of E Parish Church a mile or two away! Of course, there are such things as Civil Parishes, but they began, on the whole, as the old Townships and it was the changes in the Poor Laws in the 1830s which really brought them into existence as important entities - they are the fore-runners of the Council Wards of today and have no ecclesiastical significance. Geoff Nicholson -----Original Message----- From: Jenny De Angelis via <northumbria@rootsweb.com> To: Northumbria List <NORTHUMBRIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 12:25 Subject: [NMB] John WHITFIELD Leasingthorn Co. durham I wonder if anyone can tell me where the parish of Leasingthorn is within County Durham. I have this place name as the abode of a John WHITFIELD dated 1720 but can't find such a place name on the Genuki pages for Co. Durham. Maybe the spelling of the place name has changed or the place has disappeared or swallowed up into another more prominent place. I am trying to piece together the Whitfield family of Norton and Stockton and where they may have come from before arriving in these places. Grateful for any help Regards Jenny DeAngelis .. Please quote the minimum necessary to put your reply on context. Please introduce yourself at the top of every post. The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Geoff, Thankyou very much for your reply. After writing to the list I searched on the internet for Leasingthorne and found that it was a colliery village about 1 mile South of Merrington and not too far from Coundon and Bishop Auckland. The WHITFIELD family I am researching were mostly Damask manufacturers in Stockton on Tees with the earliest couple, John and Mary Whitfield noted in the baptism registers of St. Thomas' Stockton as being of Hartburn. Leasingthorne just came up as the residence of a Whitfield in a will I found on the Durham Will Project site linked to familysearch. Regards Jenny DeAngelis << I'm not sure whether Leasingthorne ever became - or is - a Church of England ecclesiastical parish in its own right, but in 1720 it definitely was not. At that time there were really only the old "ancient" parishes in existence - that is, those existing in 1600. Very few new parishes were created until the mid-19th century, when industrialisation created concentrations of population in places which even the Church of England could not ignore. Other denominations, such as the various Connexions of the Methodists, were much quicker in catering for those places and the typical 19th century pit village, for instance, probably had a Wesleyan Methodist Church at one end and a Primitive Methodist one at the other, with the nearest C of E Parish Church a mile or two away!>>