This entry is extracted from the Bedlington Overseers' of the Poor account book, 1734 to 1783 . These books provided a record of families or individuals in the parish who received financial assistance from the church. Their need for this assistance may have resulted from someone losing a partner, or becoming too ill or too old to work. The widow Blackburn received £1 6 shillings from 1743 to 1744. This is equivalent to £35 by today's value. This detailed information is particularly useful to family historians. It is interesting to note that this lady's christian name was not recorded. It was common practice at the time to refer to widowed females in this way.
Many of the Bedlington parish records are deposited with Northumberland Archives Service. Previously they were kept at the church. For many years church records were stored in the Parish Chest. This tradition dates back to medieval times. The Chest would usually be found in the vestry and kept under lock and key. All church records would be stored there. For example, baptism registers, poor relief records and churchwardens' accounts would all be found within the Chest.
