Durham County Record Office: the official archive service for County Durham and Darlington
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Family History
- Birth, marriage and death records
- Census records
- Parish registers
- Place names index
- Nonconformist Church Registers
- Wills
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More Family History Sources
- Adoption
- Army Records
- Bankruptcy
- Bishops' Transcripts
- Cemeteries and crematoria
- Coal Mining
- Directories
- Divorce
- Durham Obituaries
- Education
- Electoral Registers for County Durham
- Emigration/Immigration
- Family History Organisations
- Guild Records
- Hearth Tax Returns
- Jewish Community
- Land Tax Assessments
- Law and Order
- Libraries
- Marriage Licences, Bonds and Allegations
- Medical Records
- Military Records
- Missing Persons
- Newspapers
- Photograph collections
- Poor Law
- Salvation Army Church
- War Memorials
- Gypsy Roma Travellers
- Learning Zone
- Shop
- Collections Search
- Website Help
- Legal Information
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Exhibitions
- 'Adventurers and Pirates' - Hetton Coal Company, 1820
- Looking back at Consett Steel Works
- Celebrating Gala Day 2020
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County Durham remembers VE Day 1945
- 'We have come through' - Remembering VE Day 1945
- 9th Battalion DLI: From D-Day to Berlin
- 9th Battalion DLI: VE Day
- 9th Battalion DLI: In Berlin, June - September 1945
- Berlin Victory Parade, 7 September 1945
- Victory Parade at Belsen, 8 May 1945
- The Northern Echo, Victory edition, 9 May 1945
- VE Day and Durham Schools
- 2nd Battalion DLI: Burma 1945
- 2nd Battalion DLI: Rangoon Victory Parade, 15 June 1945
- VE Day and the Durham Miners' Association
- County Durham celebrates VE Day
- Haswell Victory Celebrations, 1945
- Soldier: Victory Souvenir edition, 8 May 1945
- Parade: European Victory edition, 26 May 1945
- VE Day not forgotten by one Spennymoor family
- County Durham celebrates VJ Day
- Victory Day, 8 June 1946
Visitor services
Find out about the range of services we offer to people visiting the archives in County Hall:
- Public search room
- Exhibition area in the entrance corridor
- Organised group visits
- Family and local history courses
- Third Thursday talks programme
- Themed open days to coincide with Local History Month and National Family Week
Last year about 4,000 people used our Search Room to study many different aspects of County Durham's history.
People use archives for a wide variety of reasons. Some of our visitors are pursuing a personal interest or hobby such as family or local history, or use archives for education purposes. Other visitors consult the archives as part of their business activities, to establish legal rights, investigate archaeological or environmental issues or carry out research for a book or television programme. Some people visit us to get certified copies of documents they need, such as baptism entries used to support applications for a school place in a faith school, or to get married abroad in a Roman Catholic church.
It is free to visit and study the archives in the Search Room at County Hall, but we make a charge for any copying or research that we do for you.
Please before you visit as space is limited. We advise you to make an appointment at least two weeks in advance if you want to visit on a specific date.
To help you find the records you need, the archives are described and listed in detailed catalogues. You can search the catalogue online and there is a paper version of the catalogue in the Search Room.
Our Collections search page has links to the online catalogue and five additional databases containing information about popular collections.
For more detailed information see the Visit us section of our website and our Copying service page.