Birtley, a township, a village, and an ecclesiastical parish in Chester-le-Street parish, Durham. The township lies on the Team Valley railway, 5 miles S by E of Gateshead, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Chester-le-Street, and a station on the N.E.R. Acreage, 1429; population, 4175; of the ecclesiastical parish, 4612. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. Coal is worked, and there is a brine spring. The parish was constituted in 1850, and includes the hamlet of Birtley North Side, Brown's Buildings, Leybourne Hold, and Portobello. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Durham; value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Rector of Chester-le-Street. The church was built in 1848. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, and Roman Catholic chapels, and a literary institute.
