This information guide describes records held at The Story and elsewhere relating to law enforcement, crime, and punishment in County Durham, including police, prisons, courts and coroners’ records.

The Story holds a wide range of records relating to law and order in County Durham.  

Many of these records contain personal information and are therefore subject to Data Protection legislation. Access to personal records is generally restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in a volume or document.

Tracing information about a crime can be challenging and time-consuming as information is often recorded in a number of different places, not all of which may have survived or be available to view locally:

• At a police station (or in Police records).
• In Petty Sessions (or Magistrates’ Court).
• At Quarter Sessions.
• At the Assizes (or Crown Court).
• At the Coroners' Court.
• By the prison service.

Local newspapers are often a useful source of information, and can provide more information than the official records. Digital copies of local newspapers, including the 'Durham Advertiser' from 1814 onwards, are available to view in Search and Discover, on the first floor of The Story.  No appointment is needed and access is available seven days' a week.

The Court of Quarter Sessions was one of the country’s most important judicial and administrative bodies for nearly 600 years.

In 1327, Edward III appointed officials in each English county to maintain order. By 1368 these Justices of the Peace (JPs) were empowered to hear criminal cases. As the name suggests, the court of Quarter Sessions was required (from 1388) to meet four times a year at:

• Epiphany (January)
• Easter
• Midsummer
• Michaelmas (September/October)

Constables, both high or chief constables of the ward, and petty constables of the parish or constabulary, had to attend sessions and were sworn in before the court.

The judicial system ensured that criminal cases were held in different courts according to the seriousness of the crime.  Quarter Sessions dealt with offences too serious for consideration by local officials but that were not serious enough for the Assizes Court (such as murder and treason). Cases commonly heard at Quarter Sessions included:

• Theft and larceny.
• Assault.
• Public order offences.
• Highway offences.
• Licensing breaches.
• Vagrancy and poor law offences.

Before the late nineteenth century, Quarter Sessions were also responsible for many of the administrative functions that were later carried out by county councils, including:

• Roads and bridges.
• County buildings.
• Licensing of alehouses.
• Poor law administration.
• County finance.
• Lunatic asylums.
• Weights and measures.
• Election administration.

After the Courts Act (1971), the Court of Quarter Sessions was abolished and replaced by a unified Crown Court of England and Wales.

Quarter Sessions in County Durham

Quarter Sessions were established in County Durham by 1345, with surviving records from 1471. Many of its administrative functions passed to Durham County Council in 1889.  In County Durham only one main record was kept of the proceedings at Quarter Sessions: the ‘order books’. In these volumes the clerk briefly recorded the official business of the court of Quarter Sessions, both judicial (noting pleas and judgements) and administrative.

To comply with data protection legislation, access to quarter sessions is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record.  If you need to access information about yourself, or a deceased person to whom you are directly related, please email us at collections@thestorydurham.org for further advice. 

Selected Quarter Sessions records for County Durham

The indictment rolls (sometimes called plea rolls) were only presentments of indictments by the grand jury to the court. Sometimes a note of the plea of the accused was added, but rarely the judgement. Early rolls also had a copy of the justices’ writ to the sheriff to summons or arrest the persons indicted.

For more information, check our online collections search. 

From the thirteenth century, Assize courts handled only the most serious criminal and civil cases as judges from the central courts in Westminster administered justice and resolved disputes on behalf of the monarch throughout the country.  Divided into six judicial circuits: the Home, Midland, Norfolk, Northern, Oxford, and Western, judges travelled to each circuit twice a year.

Crimes tried at the Assizes included:

• Murder and manslaughter.
• Rape.
• Highway robbery and burglary.
• Treason.

Those convicted of crimes at the Assies received severe penalties, including capital punishment and penal transportation to Australia.

The Assizes also heard significant civil matters, including:

• Contested wills.
• Divorce petitions.
• Large property disputes.

The Assize system remained in place, largely unchanged, until the late twentieth century. The Courts Act (1971) abolished both the Assizes and the Court of Quarter Sessions, replacing them with a unified Crown Court of England and Wales.

The Story holds calendars of prisoners tried at Durham Assizes, 1857-1921 (reference: CCP 9/1-21).

No official records relating to the Assizes are held at The Story. Assize records are held in The National Archives: Criminal court cases: assize courts 1559-1971

Local newspapers, including the Durham Advertiser (from 1814) provide detailed accounts of cases heard at the Assizes.  Digital copies of these newspapers are available to view in Search and Discover on the first floor of The Story.  No appointment is required and access is available seven days a week.

Courts of Petty Sessions began to appear at the beginning of the eighteenth century, to support the workload of the Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions. Meetings were initially informal and records do not begin to appear until the nineteenth century. They dealt with minor cases such as petty theft, drunkenness, minor assaults, larceny, trespass, bastardy, failure to pay maintenance, licensing, and adoption of children (from 1926).

The courts met locally and were organised into Petty Sessional divisions. You can find lists of petty session districts/divisions, and the places included in them, in local trade directories in Search and Discover on the first floor at The Story. A more complete set is available in the Collections Room (by appointment only). Petty Session divisions werere-organised on a regular basis.

Petty Sessions were replaced by Magistrates’ Courts in 1971.

The Story holds comprehensive records relating to the court of Petty Sessions and Magistrates’ Courts. The main records are court registers, organised by division name and court (or place-) name. Usually there is a separate juvenile or youth court register, and often a separate domestic, family or matrimonial court. Many divisions also kept registers of licences issued to sell alcohol (from 1872), to permit public entertainment and, in Wolsingham, to keep explosives.

To comply with data protection legislation, access to quarter sessions is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record.  If you need to access information about yourself, or a deceased person to whom you are directly related, please email us at collections@thestorydurham.org for further advice. 

The Crown Court of England and Wales was established in 1972, by the Courts Act (1971), to replace the courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions. The Court deals with more serious criminal cases such as murder, rape, and robbery, some of which are on appeal or referred from magistrates’ courts.

The Story holds no Crown Court records.

The National Archives holds some case files for Durham Crown Court.  Check out their guide on Criminal Court cases since 1972 for more information. 

Indictments and other case files remain in the custody of His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.

To comply with data protection legislation, access is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record. 

County Courts deal with most civil cases, as well as some family issues such as divorce, adoption and bankruptcy hearings. Check out our online collections search for details of our holdings for Bishop Auckland, Consett, Darlington and Durham County Courts (reference: CCo).

To comply with data protection legislation, access is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record. Email us at collections@thestorydurham.org if you require information about yourself from these records.

County Court records for County Durham

Divorce records are held by the Central Family Court (previously called the Principal Registry of the Family Division).

The chief role of the coroner is to investigate the circumstances surrounding unnatural, sudden, or suspicious deaths. If there is doubt over causes of death then an inquest is held, occasionally with a jury.

Very few records survive for County Durham until the later part of the twentieth century. Some of the names of the individuals, for which coroners’ inquest files survive, appear in our catalogues.

Access to coroners’ records is restricted to 75 years after the date of inquest. In practice this means access to any of our coroners’ records requires permission from the current coroner, except for the nineteenth century records from Chester Ward.

The coroners’ records are organised by district. There were initially four coroners’ districts in County Durham:

• Chester Ward.
• Easington Ward.
• Darlington Ward.
• Stockton Ward.

In 1907, Sunderland County Borough was created as a separate coroners’ district.

In 1933, Chester Ward was divided into two districts with different coroners serving Chester East and Chester West.

From 1967, there were four new districts: North East, North West, East, and South. The Story has a list showing which administrative districts fell into which coroners’ ward/district.  Ask a member of staff for more information or email collections@thestorydurham.org

From 1974, Durham was divided into two districts only, North and South.  

In July 2013, these two districts merged to form a single district for County Durham and Darlington. Files created in 2013 for the South District are referenced separately up until the merger (in the Cor/Du.S catalogues) while all other records for 2013 (and subsequent years) are to be found in the Cor/CD catalogues.

The main records are the registers of reported deaths and the case papers. A one per cent sample of non-inquest case papers has been kept and, up to 1995, a five per cent sample of inquest case papers. From 1996 all inquest files have been kept.

Durham County Constabulary

We hold a collection of records for Durham County Constabulary, which includes record cards/sheets for deceased officers and a series of Durham County Constabulary general order books, which include references to appointments, promotions, transfers etc. of individual officers. 

To comply with data protection legislation, access is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record. Email us at collections@thestorydurham.org if you require information about yourself from these records.

The table below provides a summary of records held at The Story for Durham County Constabulary.  For more detailed information check our online collections search.  To comply with data protection legislation, access is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record. Email us at collections@thestorydurham.org if you require information about yourself from these records.  Records not subject to access restrictions can be viewed by appointment in our Collections Room (access our online booking here).

City of Durham Police

The Story also holds records for the City of Durham police force, which was absorbed into the county force by 1921 (Reference: Du 1/59).

We hold a variety of records relating to prisons in Durham, Carlisle, and Newcastle.

To comply with data protection legislation, access is restricted for 85 years from the date of the last entry in the record. Email us at collections@thestorydurham.org if you require information about yourself from these records.

Prison records for County Durham and neighbouring prisons

Check out our online collections search for more information about prisons in County Durham. Use search terms including ‘prison’, ‘house of correction’, ‘jail’, and ‘gaol’.

The Durham Penitentiary was not a prison but rather a residential training establishment for homeless women. There are a few late records of the management of this establishment, which was based in Durham City (reference: D/Sh.H 1140-1148).

We hold some records for the Durham County Industrial School at Earl’s House, on the outskirts of Durham City (sometimes ‘Earls House’). This was later a sanatorium and is now Lanchester Road Hospital). This institution was aimed at homeless and unsupported boys rather than criminals, but an individual’s committal to the institution must have been approved by magistrates.  Records include:

• Management Committee minutes, 1880-1891, 1891-1909, 1909-1924 (reference: Q/A/C 11,19,20; CC/A 9; CC/A 26).
• Orders for commitment, 1885-1897 (reference Q/S/Y 1).
• Admission and discharge registers, 1905-1923 (reference: D/X 1065).
• Committals, 1898-1904 - see Petty Sessions registers.
• School rules, etc., (reference: CC/X 91).

Aycliffe Young People’s Centre was a secure home for juvenile offenders, run by Durham County Council for the Home Office (1944). To comply with data protection legislation, access is restricted for 100 years from the date of the last entry in the record. Email us at collections@thestorydurham.org if you require information about yourself from these records.

We hold no official records for the following institutions operated by the Home Office:

• Stanhope Castle (secure/approved school for boys, 1941-1980).
• Medomsley Detention Centre (later Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, male young offenders, 1961-2015).
• Deerbolt (young offenders, 1981).
• Frankland (high security prison, from 1980).
• Holme House (1992)
• Low Newton (remand centre, later women’s prison and Young Offender Institution (YOI), 1965).

For information about these institutions in the Home Office records at The National Archives see their Prisoners and Prison Staff guide.