So it could also be Nimlet. I found the reference on the 1881 census as Namlet. Then as Namlett on an 1855 birth certificate of his son. I have also seen another original document, but frustratingly i just can't recall it at the moment, where it looks like Lembett or something. Thanks for the the Nimlet reference, I never would have found that.
Hi Sarah, you've got a tricky one there.
I assume your ancestor is the George Bath living in Stockton in 1881, whose birthplace does look like Namlet. In 1871 he's at Bedwellty and it looks like Lemlet, presumably that's the one you'd seen but couldn't find again. In 1861 he's at Abedare and the birthplace looks like Nomlet, or maybe Momlet.
In 1851, the only likely candidate I can find is a George Bath living at Cwm Celyn, Abersytruth with his parents George and Mary Bath and several brothers and sisters, all born at Littleton, Somerset. There are several Littletons, but theirs is High Littleton, as they can be found there in the 1841 census.
However, I can't see how (High) Littleton becomes Nomlet/Namlet/Lemlet, even when said with a Somerset accent in Wales or County Durham.
The High Littleton registers are available through FreeREG, but only George and Mary's younger children appear there. Their daughter Heppe was baptised at the Primitive Methodist chapel in Frome in 1834, with parents' address Farmborough, but no others appear on the Non-Conformist register site. Perhaps they were baptised at a chapel whose registers are not online.
It seems reasonably likely that this is the right family, but I still don't know where Namlet was. Perhaps it was part of High Littleton, or perhaps the family lived elsewhere for a while.
David