England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Kelloe St Helen

The Parish

The parish of Kelloe lies in eastern County Durham roughly 7 miles southeast of the city of Durham. Kelloe is located a little over 2 miles north east of A177 road which links Sedgefield with the M1 Motorway. Kelloe is a place which has seen significant changes, largely as a result of the exploitation of coal. Prior to this the village of Kelloe, actually consisting of two small settlements, Town Kelloe and Church Kelloe, was a small rural pastoral farming community supported by extraction of the local limestone mainly for local building. Growth due to coal mining largely occurred post this project's period with East Hetton mine opening in 1836 and running until closure in 1983. The small compact villages of Kelloe were subsequently swamped by colliery housing and population soared from around 600 to over 11,000. Besides Kelloe, itself, the cast wider parish, around 7 miles in length, also included the townships of Cassop, Coxhoe, Quarrington, Thornley, and Wingate, covering a substantial area of the county. Modern developments have come to the area, Kelloe is surrounded by the former mineral railway lines serving the pits, many now serving new purposes as footpaths and cycle-ways, whilst the modern M1 linking Tyneside with London passes through to the west. Kelloe is drained westwards by a series of small becks, including Coxhoe Beck, all headed ultimately to the River Wesr where things turn back east to pass through Durham to the North Sea through the port of Sunderland. At the church Kelloe is sited at around 120 metres above the sea with Town Kelloe some 30 metres higher to its east. a local spot height at nearby Southern Law tops out at 177 metres the nearest and highest point in rolling countryside. As already mentioned Kelloe parish was vast, covering an area of close to 24,000 acres within which its population was steadily growing, growth from around 600 parishioners at the start of this transcript period had only reached around 1,500 by the closing date before exploding during the Victorian period to over 11,000. North of the River Tees the Normans had little influence consequently Kelloe like most of this area is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St Helen's church sits, as you would expect, in Church Kelloe on the south side of Sharon Avenue and standing above the course of Coxhoe Beck. St Helen is an early church with the nave recognised as being from either the 11th or 12th centuries and in the Norman Romanesque style of those early days. Detailed investigation of the footprint reveals that the current western wall was earlier an internal wall of a larger nave which has been condensed. Also from these early times and 12th century are the northern and southern doorways although the northern is nowadays blocked. Slightly later and mid-12th century is the western tower whilst the much-rebuilt chancel first was constructed at a similar date yet was rebuilt in the 13th century as well as in the traditional Victorian restoration of 1854. Besides the 1854 restoration a further one of 1880 added the vestry. As Pevsner rightly points out, however, it is the church's reliquary cross that is the main attraction of the church. Viewed by Pevsner as "one of the most important Romanesque sculptures on the northeast" and rightly worth a visit on its own. Various dates have been put forward as to its dating with c1200 as the most favoured. The main entrance is west of the church where Sharon Avenue is widened into a rough parking area outside the entrance gates, from here it is a diagonal walk to the church through a meadow-like churchyard, the churchyard is compact on a north to south axis making for a slight impact on sight-lines for the photogrtapher without unduly impeding.